Namaste, Draco
by ANEwrites
Summary: Draco goes to India to get away from things, who should he meet but Hermione Granger? The story of how the magic of India brings our two favorite people together. Dramione; my first Harry Potter fic. DracoxHermione
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, FanFiction! For those of you who usually read my work, you'll know that I have written only 39 clues fanfics before. For those of you who haven't, you know now. **** This is my first Harry Potter fic, so I'm new to this fandom. If you have any suggestions, you can PM me or put them in your review. I'll be more than happy to incorporate your ideas into my story. I also do review shout-outs! **** Now, enough of me, let's get on with the story. Enjoy!**

_Namaste_, Draco

Draco was miserable. His parents had died 3 months ago, his girlfriend, Pansy, had left him for bloody Ethan Laughlin, saying that Draco was not paying enough attention to her. His best friend, Blaise Zabini had always been there, but getting drunk once a week was not helping Draco's morale or his health.

_I need to go somewhere, _he thought. _But where?_

Then he remembered. Before his 1st year at Hogwarts, Narcissa and Lucius had taken Draco on a trip to India. At the time, he had thought it was boring, and fairly dirty, but thinking of it now, he decided it was the perfect place to stay. He had a few contacts there, in a state called Andhra Pradesh. He called on one of them, Pradeep Simhasan, via Floo Network.

Draco threw some of the shimmering green powder into the fire, stepped in, and shouted, "Simhasan residence!"

Immediately, he began to spin, for almost 3 minutes, quite a long time for a Floo. When he stepped out of the fire, he brushed the ash off of his black vest and asked a house-elf, who was standing near by, if it knew where Pradeep was.

"Yes, Master Pradeep is being in his study, sir." The house-elf replied in it's high, tinny voice. It nearly gave Draco a headache.

"Thank you." He proceeded to walk to the study, since he knew where it was from Flooing there when he worked for the Ministry a year ago. He had quit that job because of the work, and it wasn't even necessary, he was filthy rich.

Draco turned the doorknob to the study quietly, and knocked on the doorframe. Pradeep without looking up from his work, began, "Iyra, I told you not to let anyone-"

At this point, he looked up. "Oh, sorry, Mr. Malfoy. I thought you had quit your job in the ministry though."

"I did. I'm actually here for some help." Draco replied.

"Oh, alright. Why don't we go to the living room? It will be more… personal." Pradeep got up, straightening his glasses. He had a light Indian accent. If Draco had to imagine an Indian version of Harry Potter, he would look like Pradeep.

This of course didn't bother Draco one bit, in fact, after the war he had met Harry in a bar and after a glass or two of firewhiskey him and Potter had reconciled. The same could not be said for Weasley and his family; the differences between their families had been too great.

Hermione Granger had left Britain and Harry had not mentioned where she lived now. Draco had not seen her since the battle at Hogwarts, but he honestly didn't wish to. Now he was going to India, and he was determined to start over.

Pradeep told Draco about a flat in Hyderabad. It was a little posh and more upscale than most apartments in the area. Apparently the suburb that he was living in was called HITEC City. He would have to share it with someone, but he wouldn't have to go any farther for most goods and clothes that he would probably need.

"Alright," Draco agreed. "I'll take it."

DM/HG

Hermione was happy.

For once in her complicated, chaotic life, she was totally content and at peace with her mind and body. After the war, she had moved to India to get away from things. She had told Harry and Ron where she was, and they sometimes owled her.

She had made new friends, and taken a new perspective on life. She lived in HITEC City, Hyderabad, in a rather large and upscale flat. It was so large, in fact, that she had split the house into two and asked her friend Pradeep, who lived nearby, to recommend the flat to the next person looking to live in Hyderabad.

At that moment, her cell phone started to ring. She tapped the 'Answer' button and held it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Ah, yes, 'Mione! I found you a roommate!" Pradeep said enthusiastically.

"Really? That's great, Pradeep!"

"It's a guy though, is that okay?" Pradeep sounded a little guilty, as though remembering that Hermione was a full-grown woman.

"Yeah, it's fine, we're only going to share a kitchen, and there are two bathrooms and two bedrooms."

"Okay, that's great."

"What's his name?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"I'm not going to tell you, he asked me to keep it a surprise." This last part was a lie, but Pradeep thought it would be more fun to let them be surprised.

"Aw, come on!" Hermione made her voice sound mock disappointed. "Pretty please, with a strawberry on top?"

"I'm allergic to strawberries!" he taunted, sounding like he was having way too much fun with this. "Anyway, sorry, 'Mione, I have to go. Ministry stuff."

"All right, Pradeep. One last thing, when is this guy going to get here?"

"Tomorrow evening, around 4, so he can settle in by dinner. That okay?"

"Yes, that's perfectly fine. Thanks again!"

"No problem. Bye!" Hermione heard the click of the line disconnecting.

_Well, at least this place won't be so lonely anymore. _Hermione thought. _I just hope this roommate isn't a total jerk._

By this time, it was around 9 in the night, and she, having nothing better to do, walked into her bedroom and pulled the covers over her head. It was a big day tomorrow!

**A/N: Thanks for reading my first chapter! If you didn't understand the HITEC City part, it is a suburb of Hyderabad. Here's a link to a clearer understanding. /en/Hyderabad#See I cannot explain it better than they do, even though I've been there many, many times. **** Reviews greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: To the few followers that I have, I just wanted to say that reviews are much appreciated! And in response to ArcheryGirl666, they are both 23, and there may be minor spoilers, but I'll try to keep them to a minimum. Enjoy!**

Namaste, Draco: Chapter 2

Draco slid out of his bed, feeling a little nostalgic as he looked around at the house he would be leaving. He shrank his favorite books and took some Floo powder with him so that he would be able to come back, in case he left anything. Pradeep had said the person he'd be rooming with was a witch.

He felt a little uncomfortable with the concept, but in the end, it was hard to get a place in India, and he was glad to have it. Pradeep wouldn't tell him the girl's name, save that she was from Britain as well.

He grabbed his suitcase and cast an undetectable enlarging charm on it to fit all his clothes in. Once he was all packed, he did a completely un-Malfoy thing, and whispered, "Goodbye, manor."

He took a pinch of Floo powder, and tossed it into the crackling fire, which immediately turned pine green. He stepped into the pleasantly warm flames and shouted the address Pradeep had given him. He spun and spun and spun until finally he arrived in a fireplace.

The building, was however still muggle, so he had to take the elevator up to the flat. Pradeep had told him to press the button that said 8. From there, his roommate would fill him in.

DM/HG

Hermione sat in the apartment, prim and proper, waiting for a knock on the door. To make sure that the new person didn't get lost, she put a sign on the door that said, 'Looking for flat mate; owl for information.' Only a wizard would understand that.

She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was only 4:01. She was just anxious.

DM/HG

Draco walked out of the lift when it stopped at the 8th floor.

_Now, which one is it?_ He thought.

Then he saw the sign that said "Looking for flat mate; owl for information" and walked towards it. Towards his new life.

DM/HG

Hermione heard the knock, finally, on the door. She used all of her self- restraint not to run to the door. Slowly she turned the doorknob and pulled the wooden door open.

DM/HG

Draco appeared almost bored on the outside, but inside he was almost shaking in anticipation.

DM/HG

There was a slight moment of silence while Hermione and Draco took in the person in front of them. Then they both opened their mouths.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" This was said at the same time.

"Well, I live here. I'm looking for my roommate." Then Hermione saw the suitcase. "Oh, no. Oh no. You're the roommate, aren't you?"

Draco regained his composure and smirked at her. "That I am, Granger."

"How do you know Pradeep?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Ministry work. I'm assuming you are the same?"

"Yeah." Hermione said disgruntled.

"Well, as fascinating as this conversation is, can we take it inside? My case is heavy." Draco motioned to the suitcase he was carrying.

Hermione reluctantly stepped aside to let Draco in. "Let me show you where to put all of your things."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry, this chapter is extremely short! But I wanted to give you guys something to read, so here it is! :D Thanks to my reviewers archerygirl99 and alwaysaclaw11! Please review! It'll make me write better and lengthier chapters! And for understanding's sake, **_**yaar**_** means 'friend' in Hindi and is used casually at the end of questions or statements. A **_**chunni **_**is the scarf kind of thing on a **_**salwar **_**or Punjabi dress. If you look it up on Google, you'll find it easily. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

After Hermione had given Draco the grand tour of his half of the apartment, they sat down on opposite sofas. 7 years may have passed since they were in Hogwarts together, but the old Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry still existed between them. Especially since they had never, ever been civil to each other.

"Well, since we're being forced to live together, we should at least make an effort to get to know each other." Draco said, sprawled on the love seat across from Hermione.

"No one's forcing you to stay, Malfoy." Hermione replied curtly.

"Look, I know I wasn't very nice to Potter and your boyfriend, but we're friends now! Well, me and potter are, anyway." Draco said.

"Ron is not my boyfriend. We're no longer friends. Harry and I haven't spoken in almost a year, and my current contacts in Britain are very, very few." Hermione said in a clipped voice, trying her hardest to not show the stress she was feeling on the inside.

Just then the doorbell rang. Hermione and Draco both got up at the same time.

"I'll get it, Malfoy." Hermione walked to the door and pulled it open wearily. The tired air disappeared almost instantly as she took in who was behind the door.

"Meghana! Come in, come in!"

Meghana grinned and walked in, straightening her _chunni_ as she did. (A/N: Meghana is pronounced may- gHan- ah) "Hey, who is this, yaar?" She smirked and nodded in the direction of Draco.

"This is my school….. person." Hermione replied awkwardly. "His name is Draco Malfoy."

"Drah-co Malfoy.." Meghana sounded out the name thoughtfully. "You British people have odd names."

"No, just Draco and I have odd names!" Hermione said giggling. "You Indians aren't that much greater in that department either!"

"Our names mean something…" Meghana replied.

"Yeah? What does your name mean?"

"Meghana means thunder, rain, or clouds." Meghana said, smiling. "I'm the exact opposite of the things those words imply!"

**A/N: I know its short, but please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry, I took a little break on Friday, and I didn't want to give you guys an unfinished chapter, so here it is. Thanks to Archerygirl99, Nathy Zevzik, PhoenixEye10000, and a guest (:D) for reviewing! Reviews much appreciated! Enjoy Chapter 4.**

Chapter 4

"Wait," Draco interrupted. "Did you hear what Granger just said? She said 'Draco' instead of Malfoy!"

"It was just a mistake!" Hermione exclaimed, blushing slightly.

"Sure it was." Meghana exchanged an evil grin with Draco.

"Whose side are you on?!" Hermione flopped down on the sectional, mock- glaring at Meghana.

"My side! I was in Slytherin, you know!"

Draco sat up straighter at these words. "Wait, so you're Meghana Shivshankar?"

"That I am! My parents sent me to Hogwarts because it's the best school of magic there is. They were in Slytherin too."

"So I've known you for over a year and you're just now telling me this?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Slytherin wasn't known for his openness with personal issues! How's Parkinson doing, Malfoy?"

"We went out for a while, but then she left me for some Ministry bloke." Draco sounded very bitter when he said this.

"Oh, she was just a slutty power-seeking moron." Meghana said casually, as she straightened her _chunni_ and sat on the sectional next to Hermione. "So, anyway, 'Mione, I came here to meet your roommate and see if the _salwar_ I bought you for your birthday fit or not. Lets go see now!"

"All right..." Hermione had been avoiding the turquoise dress ever since she had gotten it because it looked hard to put on and very uncomfortable.

She and Meghana went into the adjacent bedroom and she undressed while Meghana went into the closet and got the dress. The top was a turquoise with silver sequins and embroidery in white, and the hem was an inch wide and embroidered with gold. The bottom was a black, with designs coming up the sides and to where the slit of the dress began.

Meghana handed the bottom to Hermione and said, "Put this on first."

Hermione slipped on the pant-like bottom and held the waist up, which was about 5 inches too big and had a string coming out of the middle.

"Umm… Meghana? This is too big." Hermione said.

Meghana giggled and said, "No, silly, you have to pull it like this." She grasped the string, pulled it tight, and tied it around itself.

"Oh! That makes a lot more sense."

"Of course it does! Is it comfortable?" Meghana asked.

"Yeah, it is. Can I have the top?" Hermione replied, a little warily, for this was the part that looked the least comfortable.

"I'm loving the eagerness, 'Mione." Meghana said sarcastically, in her light Indian accent.

Hermione pulled it over her head, and settled it around her chest. She found all her hesitation had been for nothing, a layer of white cloth lined the inside of the dress, covering the stitches of the sequins and embroidery and making the dress much more comfy.

She turned to the full-length mirror in anticipation, taking in the sight. Meghana stifled a gasp.

"That looks so gorgeous on you!" She exclaimed.

And it did. The top hugged her chest, and the gold accents on it brought out the lighter portions of her chocolate eyes. The bottom tapered near her ankles, and the designs were beautiful.

"Wait! You forgot the _chunni_!"

Meghana draped the long deep blue and black cloth over both of her shoulders. The ensemble was complete.

"Ooh! Lets go show Draco!" Meghana squealed, and ignoring her objections, dragged her into the sitting room.

"What do ya think, Draco?"

Draco, who had been reading a thick book by the fire looked up. At first, the look on his face was disinterested and bored, then changed to surprise as his jaw dropped.

"My eyes are up here, Malfoy." Hermione was blushing, her slightly tanned skin glowing.

"Granger.. I.. You.." Draco stammered, struck speechless. And the Malfoys were NEVER speechless.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers sahasra, potterhead27, Guest, PhoenixEye10000, alwaysaclaw11, and SerpentofDarkness. You guys really help me continue. And in reply to sahasra, I live in the U.S. but my parents are from India and I spend a lot of my vacation there in Hyderabad, that's how I know a lot about it. Sorry to disappoint : ( I do speak Telugu, though, and plan to include some in my story (along with a glossary at the end). Enjoy!**

Chapter 5 

Hello?" Meghana snapped her fingers in front of Draco's eyes. Draco didn't break his gaze.

"He's gone, 'Mione. You've gone and killed him with your body." Meghana said jokingly.

"Oh, stop it." Hermione smiled slightly nevertheless and changed her tone. "Draco? Stop acting like a fish out of water and start acting more like a Malfoy!"

"You sound like my mother." Draco snapped out of it, and went back to a smooth voice. "I was admiring. Not staring."

"Of course," Hermione said sarcastically. "You have to learn to like character, or you'll never get a girlfriend. Or a wife."

As Draco opened his mouth to retort angrily, Meghana stepped in.

"Now, guys, lets not do anything we're going to regret!" Meghana said nervously, her hand hovering over the pocket of the purse where she had kept her wand.

"Oh, I won't regret anything I do to this little prick!" Hermione said, taking out her wand.

"'Mione! Stop it!" Meghana shouted. "I don't know why you're being so touchy! He just complimented you."

"You're right," Hermione replied, taking a deep breath, clearing her mind. "Sorry, Malfoy. It's just the shock."

"Quite all right, Granger, but you owe me something," Malfoy said, smirking. "You Gryffindor always feel the urge to clear debts, right?"

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione asked, sighing.

"I'm going to take you for dinner and you're going to meet Potter there, and you're going to be civil to me the whole time."

"All right. When?"

"Tomorrow night."

"Okay." Hermione turned to Meghana. "Can we reschedule our dinner?"

"Sure! The next night will be good, I think. And I'll bring my specialty ingredients to give Draco here a quality taste of India before he buys food from the underground restaurants." Meghana said, smiling.

Hermione shuddered. The first time she had been to an underground restaurant, she had been sick for 3 days. Meghana had said that her body was still getting used to the quality of the food and water here. But she had been here for almost a year now, and hadn't gone back since.

"That sounds good, Meghana. Thanks for the dress, by the way. I love it." Hermione replied.

"Oh, it was nothing." Meghana said sweetly. "I'll have to get going now, my mother's making _paneer_ and _roti, _and she needs help with it." Out of the corner of her mouth, she whispered, "The family's coming over again."

Meghana had a huge family, and they came over once a month. During that day, Meghana, her mother, and her elder sister worked all evening to prepare the food in time for 8:30 dinner.

Hermione nodded sympathetically. "All right, bye!"

"Bye 'Mione! Bye Draco!" Meghana winked at Draco as she swished out the door, her _chunni _billowing out behind her.

"It's about time I started making dinner too. What would you like to have, Malfoy?"

"Umm… Foie gras, or caviar, with crème brûlée for dessert."

"I'm sorry, I don't cook French food, because I'm not rich."

"Fine, then what were you _planning _on making?"

"I was _planning_ on trying this new potato recipe that Meghana gave me."

"Fine, whatever. I really don't care."

"Okay. You can do whatever you please while I make it. It'll be ready in about.. a half an hour?"

"'Kay, I'll be in my room unpacking."

"Sure."

Half an hour later

Draco walked in to the smell of deliciousness. He couldn't exactly place the scent, but it sure smelled nice.

"Granger, is dinner ready?"

"Yes, can you set the table?"

"No! Who do you take me for? A tenant?"

"Yes. Because that's exactly what you are!"

"Oh, right. But I'm still not setting the table."

"Fine, have it your way." Hermione brushed past him, carrying 2 plates and a mat to hold hot pans on. Then, she came back to get two glass tumblers and silverware. Finally, she carried the steaming skillet of frying potatoes by Draco.

"Dinner is served," Hermione said, wearily, brushing a strand of curly brown hair out of her face. "_Bon appetit."_

"_Merci, mademoiselle."_ Draco replied in seemingly fluent French, smirking a little. "How do I eat this?"

"With the white rice." Hermione pointed out a bowl of rice near his plate.

"Oh." He took some of the potatoes on his fork, dipped it into the bowl of rice, and took a bite. The reaction was almost immediate.

"HOT! HOT!" Draco gasped again and again, and when he finally regained his senses, drank the whole tumbler of water. He pulled out his wand and said hoarsely, _"Aguamenti!"_ The glass refilled, and he drank the whole thing again, more slowly. Draco cast the refilling charm one more time, and then sat back in his chair.

"Do you have anything to make this ANY less spicy?" Draco addressed Hermione, who, through this whole ordeal had sat in her chair, trying very, very hard not to laugh.

"Well, yes actually. Give me a moment." Hermione got up from her chair and went into the kitchen. She came back with a small pot, about the size of a sugar bowl. It was filled with a buttery substance. "This is called ghee. Spread it on the potatoes. It's basically butter, only melted."

Draco took a spoon and poured it over the spicy potatoes, very liberally. Then he cautiously took another bite. "Much better. Thanks, Granger."

"No problem. You won't need to use that as much when you get used to the food here. It's almost always a little spicy. But I'm very conservative on that front; you should eat some of Meghana's cooking. In fact, I think you will be, day after tomorrow."

"Now, I'm scared." Draco said.

Hermione chuckled. "It's really not that bad. I'll take you sightseeing sometime. It's really pretty at night, if you know where to go."

"Okay." Draco said, softly.

A pleasant silence surrounded them, broken only by the clink of silverware on their plates.

**A/N: Hope you liked it, its one of my longest chapters so far! Review please! And sorry for updating so late, I was watching the Superbowl yesterday. Go Beyonce! Erm.. I meant the Ravens. Go Ravens. :D**

**~ANEwrites**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks to reviewers Archerygirl99 and alwaysaclaw11. Enjoy!**

Chapter 6

The next morning passed without incident, and a quiet lunch at noon. Then, at three in the afternoon, Draco brought up the fact that Hermione had agreed to dinner in Britain with Harry and himself.

"Oh, yes! I almost forgot about that." And in the excitement of last night, she nearly had. But at the mention of a dinner, she frowned.

"What's the problem?" Draco asked, noticing her frown.

"I don't know what to wear."

Draco laughed. "Just get your friend to help you. In that aspect, she's a lot like Weaselette."

"Her name is Ginny! Can she come to the dinner as well?"

"Sure. She and Potter are dating, by the way. And Weaselbee is dating Lavender Brown."

Hermione's eyes darkened a little at this, but she lightened up at the prospect of seeing friends whom she had missed for almost a year.

"I'm going to call Meghana now. You should probably get ready, too. It's almost 6 o'clock in Britain." Hermione strode into her bedroom and picked up her cell phone. Or mobe-isle, like everyone else here called it. She scrolled down the contacts list until she found Meghana. Then she hit the call button.

_Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, Ri- _"Hello?" Meghana's voice sounded tinny in the phone. "'Mione?"

"Hey, Meghana. And yes, it's Hermione. I need your help."

"What's up?"

"I'm going to dinner to meet some of my friends in Britain and I don't know what to wear!"

"Oh, is this the dinner Malfoy was talking about?"

"Yes, the very same."

"All right, I'll be over in a couple of minutes. I'll bring my kits, too. Prepare to be beautified!" And with that, Meghana hung up.

Hermione plopped down on the memory foam mattress to wait for the bell. In about a minute, she heard the _CRACK!_ of someone apparating into the apartment.

She rushed into the sitting room, where Meghana was standing, with a mini pocketbook in her hand.

"_This,_" she said gesturing to the pocketbook. "Is your 'kits'?"

"No…." Meghana paused as she opened the pocketbook and pulled out case after case of makeup, mascaras, and mirror sets. "_These_ are my kits."

Hermione looked at Meghana and said, without any hint of amazement, "Undetectable Expansion Charm?"

"Yep." Meghana said, in the same tone.

They both giggled a little.

"Let's get started!" Meghana said enthusiastically. She pulled out another _salwar, _this time in a lilac purple, out of the pocketbook. "You'll be borrowing mine this time. Make sure to make that clear to your friends. Go put it on, and I'll start laying out the vanity."

While Hermione was changing, Meghana transformed the sitting room into a pretty powder room, complete with a mirror vanity and all makeup imaginable to mankind surrounding it.

Hermione walked back in, and gasped. "How the…"

Meghana grinned and put a finger to her lips. "Shhh. It's a secret. Now, let's see… Purple eye shadow, I think, and gold eyeliner. Red lipstick… mascara… pink blush… That should do the trick."

She started to apply the eye makeup first, with a strict instruction of, "Don't move." Then she brushed on some blush and put the lipstick on, too, being careful not to overdo it. For the final touch, she added some sparkly stuff she had found in the bottom of the case to her entire face, so that when she turned her head, her face sparkled.

"There! Now, for the hair."

"Wait, I want to decide what to do with my hair." Hermione interjected, after being unusually quiet this whole time. "Do you have any Sleekeazy's?"

"No, but I do have enriched coconut oil. And sandalwood powder. It will make you smell nice."

"All right, lets do that first."

Meghana dug into her pocketbook, and pulled out a green bottle that had the word Vatika on it. Then she pulled out a flip top container of Pond's sandalwood talc.

She opened the green bottle first, and squeezed some out onto her palm. Then she rubbed both palms together and started to massage it into Hermione's hair. She did that until her hair was tame enough to do anything with.

"Okay, now your hair is all smooth. What style would you like? Ringlet curls?" She held up a picture of a girl with small curls surrounding her face. "Clipped back? Jasmine?" She pointed to her own hair, which was clipped back with a bow and held up a string of jasmine.

"Umm.. Keep the jasmine, and you can twist it around the bun which I'm going to do."

"All right." Meghana stepped back as Hermione turned towards the mirror and pulled her hair up and began to twist and braid it in various places, occasionally reaching for the comb, until she finished with an elegant bun.

"Okay, now pin in the jasmine."

Meghana picked up the sweet smelling strand of flowers and a handful of bobby pins. She held one between her teeth and began to twist it around the bun, and poking the pins in when she needed them to hold a place.

Finally, her look was complete, with the gold eyeliner bringing out the embroidery in the dress, and the ends of the strand of jasmine hanging out of her bun. To complete the look of perfection, Meghana scooped up a gold necklace from the side table and hooked it around her bare neck.

"There, now you look like a _desi_ girl."  
Hermione smiled and thanked Meghana for all the help.

"Oh, it was nothing. Wait." She cast a water-repelling charm around her eyes. "Can't have you messing up your makeup with tears. Gotta look good for your dinner date with Dra- I mean, your friends!"

"What did you say?" asked Hermione suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

"Me? I didn't say anything… Oh, would you look at the time! Gotta go! _Hasta luego, amiga!" _Meghana hastily waved her wand and packed all her things in a second, then disappeared with a crack like a bullet.

"Hmmm…" Hermione mused. "Now, all there's left to do is wait!"

DM/HG

Harry Potter, the great and famous Harry Potter, was sitting in front of the TV waiting for his live-in girlfriend to come down the stairs.

"Ginnyyyyyy, would you _please_ hurry up? Malfoy wanted us to be there in 15 minutes!"

"Harry, can't you see that I'm trying? You can't rush perfection!"

"And you can't miss reservations either!"  
"We're eating at a buffet!"

"That happens to be highly popular!"

"Whatever, Harry! Just give me 5 minutes more!"

"All right, but I'm coming in to see where you are!"

"Fine!"

Harry walked into the bedroom, and saw that Ginny looked like she was ready, and was only digging through her enormous closet of clothes for a pair of shoes that would match her dress.

She was wearing light makeup and a tight blue dress that hugged all the right places. The dress stopped right before her knees and had a silver belt buckle with a black belt around her waist.

"Should I wear tights?" Ginny asked.

"No you shouldn't." Harry said, looking with adoration at his girlfriend.

"I'll go get them now, then." Ginny teased, eyes sparkling. "Oh, I'm just teasing. Could you change the color of these shoes to this exact silver? I've been trying for a while now."

"Sure, Gin." Harry flicked his wand at the shoes and they immediately turned the shade of silver that the belt buckle was.

"Thanks, Harry."

"No problem, can we leave now? I don't want to apparate there it's in a street filled with muggles."

"Okay, then can't we Floo?"

"No, no connection anywhere near."

"All right, let's get walking then." Ginny didn't look very happy at the prospect of letting her perfectly done self face the outside world.

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad."

"But, I worked for an hour on this!" she said, gesturing to herself.

"Here, come here for a moment." Harry paused and let Ginny walk over to him. He leaned in close and gently pressed his lips to hers. After about a minute, they broke apart, Ginny's face considerably happier. "And I'll cast the Impervius Charm as well! You'll be fine."

"All right, let's go." Ginny picked up her blue alligator skin clutch and walked out of the bedroom.

Harry followed suit and smiled internally at their kiss, and her readiness to see her best friend again. He was excited too; he had not seen Hermione in a very long time. And Malfoy was worth seeing too.

_What a coincidence, _Harry thought. _That in the whole, huge country of India, Malfoy would manage to get in the same town, same building, and same flat as Hermione!_

**A/N: Hope that this was long and good enough for you guys, felt the need to include some Harry/Ginny action in there… Reviews really do help guys, a disappointing reaction to my previous chapter, but that's okay. REVIEW PLEASE! **

**P.S. I've decided to make updating every other day, under normal circumstances. The end product is better with two days worth of work instead of one.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, you guys! I was experiencing some minor writers block, and filming a movie with two silly girls isn't too easy either! **** Thanks to reviewers Archergirl99, sweet-tang-honney, potterhead27, and persevera. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

Hermione stumbled out of the Floo into a completely full bar. She recognized the layout of the Leaky Cauldron, but other than that, the whole pub was completely different! On the wall, there was a picture of the old barman, Tom. The plaque underneath read, _The well-known barman of the Leaky Cauldron will always be remembered for upholding the value of it throughout the years. Thank you, Tom._

Hermione took a double take. "Tom's dead?" she asked Draco, who had just staggered out of the Floo.

"Yes, his grandson inherited the bar. The place is nearly unrecognizable, but still is mainly the same."

Hermione looked over to see who was at the counter. Tom's grandson was a man with wavy light brown hair and sparkly hazel eyes. He turned towards her, caught her eye, and winked.

Hermione blushed, and walked over to introduce herself.

"Hello, Miss! I'm Nikolas. No need to ask your name, I think. You're Hermione Granger!"

"That I am, Nikolas!" Hermione replied, grinning.

"I haven't seen you around here. Have you been out of town?"

"Yes, actually, I came back tonight to see Harry. Potter." She added.

"But of course! And, I see you have a boyfriend?" Nikolas remarked, glancing at Draco, who had been eyeing the pair.

"No, no… He just arranged the meeting." Hermione said, blushing again.

"Ah. So you wouldn't object to coming back, say on Friday?" Nikolas winked.

"Why wouldn't I? Handsome boy like you." Hermione flirtatiously replied.

"Then it's a date! Friday night. I'll meet you here." Nikolas said.

"All right! Now, I really must be going, can't leave the Boy-Who-Lived waiting, now can we?"

"Of course not. See you on Friday." Nikolas turned away to help a rather large man, who had asked for a tumbler of beer.

"Are you quite finished?" asked Draco, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, yes, let's go." Hermione swept out the front doors, flushing a little.

Draco followed her, sighing and walking elegantly, as all Malfoys do.

After walking together for a while, Draco put his arm in front of Hermione to stop her and said, "This is it."

She looked over and saw a dilapidated, creepy looking warehouse.

"Are you sure, Malfoy?"

"Yes, of course, I've been here a dozen times." Draco started walking in.

"This place looks creepy as hell!" Hermione was reminded strongly of a Muggle video that she had seen on a website called Youtube. In the video, two Muggles named Ian and Anthony had went to a restaurant that had looked exactly the same as this one.

"Don't worry, Granger, I know what I'm doing." Draco walked up to the aluminum door and banged on it with his fist.

A slit that Hermione hadn't noticed before opened and two blue eyes peered out from it.

"Password?" a voice asked.

"Nargles." Draco replied promptly.

"Welcome back, Señor Malfoy." The door opened to reveal a mariachi-themed restaurant. The only sign that the place was magical were the mariachi instruments playing in the background, without musicians.

A waitress walked up to them and asked, in fluent Spanish, "¿Cómo puedo ayudarte hoy?"

"Una tabla para cuatro, por favor." Draco said, in equally fluent Spanish.

"No problema. Recorrido este camino." The pretty waitress led them to a booth in the corner which could easily seat six.

"Gracias, señorita." Draco said to the waitress.

"De nada, mi nombre es Marisol, y le serviré hoy." The waitress smiled at them, and went to seat the next guests, with a "Bienvenidos!"

"Dónde está Potter y Weasley?"

"Malfoy, you're still speaking Spanish."

"Pardón. Oops, sorry, I meant 'sorry'." Malfoy said, smirking.

"I thought you only took French lessons."

"Well, yes, but Pansy was Spanish, and she made me learn. I'm a quick learner."

"I can see- rather, hear that." Hermione smiled. "And as for Ginny and Harry, I have no idea."

"Well, I do." Malfoy said, looking over her shoulder.

Hermione turned around and squealed, "Harry! Gin!"

Harry and Ginny both turned in that direction, and smiling at the sight of their best friend, Harry murmured a few words to Marisol, pointing at Hermione.

"Ah, no problema. Adelante!"

The couple almost sprinted to Hermione, and upon reaching her, Harry swept her into his arms and spun her around. "'Mione! Where the bloody hell have you been?"

"Never mind that, Harry! 'Mione!" Ginny hugged her best friend, and then proceeded to ask, "Who has replaced me as your stylist? Because she's doing a pretty good job."

"No one could replace you, Gin! And my friend Meghana did my hair."

"Isn't she a Slytherin? She's distantly related to the Patils!"

"Oh, I didn't know that! Come, and sit, first."

While Ginny and Hermione gossiped and exchanged stories about life to one another, Harry and Draco were having a completely different discussion.

"So are you dating her yet?" Harry asked, quite bluntly to Draco.

"Wha- What are you talking about, Scarhead?" Draco spluttered. "I don't even like her."

"Ah, don't lie to me, Malfoy! Don't like her, you should have seen the look on your face when Ginny was hugging her, you were gazing at her, enraptured!" Harry teased.

"No, I wasn't!" Draco said indignantly.

"You weren't what?" Ginny asked, suddenly turning to their conversation.

"Nothing!" Both men replied quickly.

"You just proved that it was something important!" Ginny declared triumphantly. "Men," she said, turning to Hermione. "You have to know 'em to get stuff out of 'em."

"Now," She said, turning back to Harry, changing tone to a huskier one, and peering at him under her lashes. "What was I saying?"

"Erm… you were asking…" Harry stumbled over his words, aware of the sudden tightness of his jeans. "You were asking what… what we were talking about.."

"Ah, yes…. Will you tell me now, Harry? Will you tell me what you two were talking about?"

"Um… No…"

"Are you quite sure?" Ginny leaned in closer, until Harry's and her noses were an inch apart. "How about now?"

"We were talking about whether Draco…"

"Whether Draco was on a date with Pansy yesterday, at the Leaky Cauldron.."

Draco let out an internal sigh of relief. If Weaslette had been told the truth, she would never have let him live it down.

"Oh, if that's all." Ginny suddenly switched back to her normal tone and turned back to a giggling Hermione, smiling in spite of herself.

"Nice job, Potter." Draco said in an undertone.

"Women. When you've been with Ginny long as I have, you know how to handle them." Harry said, carefully lowering his tone as to avoid any future eavesdropping.

"So, when do you plan to pop the question? You've been with her for 5 years now, it's about time."

"I don't know. I… plan to do it on her birthday. It'll break the record for best birthday presents, I think."

"Have you guys had marital fun yet?" Draco said, quite frankly.

Harry burst out laughing. "No, that's why its 'marital' love!"

"But of course. Granger is going on a date with Nikolas, the new barman in the Leaky Cauldron."

"Yes, I like that man. He looks nothing like Tom, and he'll never replace him, but it's the second best! But I must have the 'big brother' talk after they're done."

Draco chuckled. "Because Granger has no siblings?"

"No, because the last time I decided not to, she moved to fricking India." Harry replied bitterly, face hardening.  
"What happened?"

"Well, it all started when Ron asked Hermione out…."

**A/N: Reviews greatly appreciated! Expect update tomorrow, because this seemed like a good place to stop for today **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I posted this chapter up soon, so that people would know that the Fanfiction update system is working again, so if you haven't read or reviewed Chapter 7, you can do so now. This is Harry's narration of Hermione's problems. The girls are on the other side of the table, and are talking about other things. The story is only interrupted by Marisol (the waitress) and la comida (the food). Enjoy!**

Chapter 8

"I didn't talk to him, because we were best mates. Hermione was our best mate. You don't give dating talks to your best mates, right? But I should have. Should've at least told him not to hurt her. Because what he did probably is going to prevent her from ever getting into a relationship."

"Wait, what happened?" Draco interrupted.

"I'm getting to that part!" Harry said, a little crossly. "Listen! So the first month went just fine, everything was perfect. Until she came." Harry's eyes went darker. "Lavender Brown. Ron had dated her for a couple of- no, for almost half the year in our sixth year. So, naturally, they went over to say hi.

"Hermione obviously thought that was the end of it, a hi, and a bye. Lavender and she had never really gotten along, so Ron didn't really expect anything more than that. But then, one night in the bar, Ron saw Lavender there. Hermione doesn't do much alcohol. So he'd gone out alone."

"Disculpa," Marisol had returned, after a wait. "¿Puedo tomar su orden?"

"Sí, todos queremos burritos." Draco answered promptly.

"Gracias. Yo te lo traeré en un minuto." Marisol turned towards the kitchens again.

The girls returned to their conversations, and Harry returned to their narrations.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. The bar. Ron and Lavender got back together there, and ever since that night in the bar, they'd been getting together, and dating behind Hermione's back. Ron thought she was being completely clingy and she ought to have gotten her own 'companion' too, after they broke up. But that's not what I was talking about.

"The way Hermione found out was terrible. She came over one day to Ron's, to give him his birthday gift. When she knocked, there was no answer, so thinking something horrible had happened, she broke through the charms on the house and rushed upstairs. There she found Ron and Lavender asleep, in the bed, nearly naked. She came over to my house after that. She was an absolute wreck. Tears and everything. It broke my heart to see her like that, but there she was.

"I didn't talk to Ron after that, and he's been disowned by the family, almost like Percy in our fifth year. He accepted it, and now he's married to Lavender." Harry finished, bitterly.

Draco was speechless. He had never even fathomed a guess near the tale, which Harry had just told him.

"Wow." Draco whispered. "No wonder she's so touchy about Weasley."

"Yeah. Why, did you say something to her?" Harry asked, a little defensively.

"Well, yes. I made a comment about her being Weaselbee's girlfriend. She looked like she was about to cry." Draco looked bashful when he admitted this.

"Well good thing I told you the story, or you would have made living with her impossible."

"Her food is excellent, though."

"Can't argue with that, mate."

"Have you seen Weasley lately?"

"Yes, he tried to contact Ginny by pretending to be Dragomir Van Schactin. Gin was always his favorite sibling, so of course he would contact her. He didn't bet that I would come too. I yelled at him for five minutes, then told him to shove off. He left in a rush."

"Bastard." Draco frowned. "Where's Marisol? It's been over 15 minutes since she took our order."

"This place is always quick. Maybe they're just having some cooking problems." Harry said, sensibly.

"Maybe."

15 minutes later, the four were getting a little worried.

"Where is our food?" Ginny asked, the corners of her mouth turning down a little. "I'm starving!"

Just then, all the candles on the wall blew out, leaving the quartet in total darkness.

"Harry, I'm scared." Ginny said, her voice small.

"Just hold on, Gin. I'm sure nothing's wrong." Harry replied nervously.

"_Lumos." _Hermione lit her wand, illuminating their concerned faces. "Wait a second, Malfoy's not here!"

"What do you mean?!" Harry looked around them frantically. "Malfoy, where are you?"

A muffled yell came from the corner of the restaurant.

The trio immediately got up, and Harry and Ginny lit their wands. They began to walk slowly towards the corner where the yell had come from.

A slow round of clapping came from the opposite corner. The tree spun on their heels, and pointed their lit wands towards the corner, revealing Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown, smiling sardonically.

"Hermione, how nice to see you. And Harry, Ginny, after our very pleasant meeting last weekend."

"Can't say it's much of a pleasure to see you, Weasley. What've you done with Malfoy?" Harry said, in a level tone, but brimming with dislike.

"Thought you'd have been glad to get rid of that git. We never quite liked him." Ron said.

"He's changed. Now hand him over." Hermione spoke up for the first time.

"Ah, so you've found a new boyfriend? Replacing me already? You should've stayed, 'Mione, we could have had such good times together."

"But you'd replaced me with ickle Lav-Lav over there, hadn't you?" Hermione said, acknowledging Lavender.

"But he liked me better than you, a Muggle-born. Who wouldn't prefer me? I'm a witch of the highest class, whereas you are one of the lowest." Lavender said, smirking maliciously.

"I refuse to argue at your level. I thought we were over those purity issues. Didn't Mr. Weasley over there fight for about a year with Harry and me against the very same issue?"

"I've chosen a different view on the issue since we broke up." Ron stepped back into the conversation.

"Since we 'broke up'?! What happened doesn't deserve to be called 'breaking up'! I loved you! You decided to sleep with Lavender. You didn't love me. So don't talk to me, and get out of the restaurant!" Hermione's voice rose in the darkness, broken only by the ring of light the lit wands made.

Ron stepped out of the shadows, his eyes almost gleaming with malicious intent. "But you seemed to be getting it on just fine with Malfoy over there. Heard you two moved it together, already?"

"We- we're not- we didn't-" Hermione sputtered in a strangled voice.

"Don't try to explain. You're just like the rest of my family, blood traitors. It's time to embrace your heritage. If you have any." He glanced contemptuously at Hermione.

Then he turned to Ginny. "Come on, Gin. Why do you even hang out with this filth? Come with us. Join the new reality that is magic." Ron coaxed.

"I'd rather be eaten by sharks. You're a disgrace. Even Draco Malfoy doesn't say any of this purity nonsense. Go jump off a cliff." Ginny said harshly. "And take your trashy girlfriend with you."

"Fine. We'll be going. I hay-" Something seemed to flow straight out of Ron. "Lavender. What the bloody hell were you doing?"

"Making you say what was really on your mind. Remember what you said?"

"N- Oh, no. Oh, crap. Why the bloody hell would you make me do that?"

"Because you came here to make up with your friends. I couldn't let you do that now, could I?" Lavender replied, seductively.

"Oh, guys, I- Wait, how did I snap out of it, then?"

"I cast _Finite._" Hermione interjected. "Have all your actions been controlled by Lavender since we broke up?"

"N- Hmm.. Yes. Yes. Oh my god. How could I say that to you guys? Lavender!" Ron turned around furiously and slapped Lavender across the face.

"I'm assuming she made you sleep with her too?"

"Yeah! Why would I like this slut?"

"My god, Ron, I never thought I would see you like this. Hitting your wife. Lying to our faces, I never cast that spell." Hermione turned to Lavender. "And you, playing along, just to see your husband's ex-girlfriend suffer. You are all sick."

"Of course. I don't even know how you fell under the impression that he had ever liked you. He never liked you. We even have a baby on the way." Lavender waved a hand at her slightly protruding belly.

"I hope to God the child turns out better than its parents. Well, have nice lives. Come on, Harry let's get out of here." Hermione sniffed and began to make for the door. Then she stopped suddenly. "Where's Malfoy?"

"Remembered him, have you?" Ron laughed harshly. "He's in the restaurant. Find him."

"Malfoy? Malfoy!?" Hermione waved her wand impatiently and lit the candles again. "Oh, there you are."

Draco had been put in a Body-Bind spell. For the second time that night, Hermione muttered, "_Finite._"

"Thanks, Granger." Malfoy got up rubbing his wrists. "Let's go back. Bye, bastard." He threw his jacket on and began walking out the door.

"Come on Gin. And Harry." Hermione followed Draco, and so did Ginny.

Harry lagged behind, to give a piece of his mind to Ron. "Why would you hurt her like that? She was our best mate."

"Because she was a clingy bitch. I hate her."

These comments put Harry over the edge, and he flicked his wand, casting a nonverbal _"Levicorpus!"_ at him.

Ron was immediately hoisted up, and knowing that he didn't know the countercharm, Harry pocketed his wand and exited the mariachi place, seemingly oblivious to the cries of, "POTTER!" behind him.

**A/N: As you may have noticed I changed this chapter up a bit to eliminate confusion, even I felt confused after this chapter. **** Review! That review button right down there would really appreciate it!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Oh my God, I'm so sorry guys. I got caught up in all kinds of school work and the classes are so hard this year. Thanks to my reviewers Pineapple246, PhoenixEye10000, Milca, Archerygirl99, TheHarryPotterGeek, and onecelestialbeing. Just to clarify, I don't speak Spanish. The Spanish parts from the last and before last chapters are from a translator and the Spanish courses I took in high school. I'm as about as good at speaking Spanish as Anthony in the Anthony is Mexican episode of Smosh. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Smosh or Harry Potter. **

Chapter 9

After they had apparated to the Leaky Cauldron, both parties bid each other a hasty goodbye, shaken by the events of the night. Draco was the least affected by this, and even he was looking murderous, his hands balling up into fists and unrolling again, preoccupied.

"Shall we?" Draco stepped back to let Hermione through the Leaky Cauldron's Floo. When they both had gone back to the building, they rode the elevator in silence, and stepped off at their floor.

As the door clicked shut behind them, Hermione suddenly ran towards her bedroom and slammed the door. Draco walked up to it slowly. His hand hovered unsurely near the doorknob, as he listened to the muffled sobbing that was coming from behind it.

He made up his mind, and knocked quietly on the door, three times. The crying slowly subsided, and Hermione's voice, stuffy and clogged, said, "One minute. I'll be out in one minute."

The sound of water splashing could be heard, as Hermione washed her face and walked out, with a watery smile.

"Have a seat, Miss Granger." Draco said, in his therapist voice. "Now, tell me, is there something specific that has you so distraught tonight?"

"I'm assuming you already heard it from Harry." She sniffled, and then said, "So, I'm not going to retell the tale."

"All right, whatever you wish. Would you like some ice cream?"

"Yes, _Señor, _I would like some ice cream." Hermione replied, mocking his Spanish from earlier.

"Which flavor, _Señorita?_" said Draco, using the same tone.

"Vanilla. So you're mocking me mocking you? Is that like Mockception?" Hermione smirked.

Draco flicked his wand to summon the ice cream, and asked with a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

"I must show you that movie sometime." She glanced at the tub of ice cream sitting on her lap. "You forgot spoons." She flicked her wand and caught the two teaspoons that flew from the kitchen.

"Well, I can't be a therapist and a person who doesn't forget things once in a while. Cheers!" Draco held up his spoon.

"Cheers." Hermione clinked the two spoons together and turned to her tub, taking the lid off and sinking her spoon into the soft frozen treat.

After they had finished, Hermione stood up suddenly. "I have to show you something!"

"Okay." Draco looked bemusedly at her retreating back, and thought, _Wow. She's really pretty. I should- Wait. This is Granger we're talking about. Why am I thinking about Granger this way? Maybe Potter's- No. No, he can't be right. I refuse. We're just roommates, just have a forced friendship. _

Then, Hermione came back rushing, slightly out of breath, holding a rather large book-like object.

"This is my iPad. It's a muggle thing, but I wanted to show you a video that's pretty hilarious. Why are you looking at me like that?" For Draco had been gazing at her with a strange look on his face.

"Never mind that, what's a video?" he changed the subject hastily.

Hermione laughed a little, and then explained, "It's when a Muggle tapes himself doing something. You can see what he or she was doing at that time. Some muggles post their videos on a website- that's a place on the internet- so that other people can see them. They're usually funny."

"What's the internet?"

"Oh, just let me show you." Hermione pressed the home button, and the screen fired to life, astonishing Draco.

"Whoa. These muggles….."

"Yeah, I know, crazy right?" She went to YouTube and typed in, "Smosh Found Dead" in the search bar.

She clicked on the first hit, and tilted the screen so that Draco could see it, too.

At the end of it, Draco looked pretty paranoid. "What the hell? Is this real?"

Knowing perfectly well that it was not in fact, real, Hermione replied, "Yup."

"Oh God, I don't think I'm ever going to Pequeñas Cosas ever again."

"Oh, is that the name of the restaurant?"

"Yes. Small things."

"What?"

"It translates to Small Things."

"Oh. You should teach me that sometime."

"And you should teach me whatever language they have here, I don't think anyone speaks English!"

"All right, I'll do that sometime." They fell into another comfortable silence, eating their ice creams. When Hermione finished hers, she vanished the cup, banished the spoon, and leaned into the sectional, closing her eyes and sighing peacefully.

Draco followed her actions, and while Hermione had her eyes closed, he crept up next to her and placed his face right at her level, so that when she turned around, she would be looking straight into it.

"Hey, Draco?" When he didn't reply, she turned, and screamed when she saw the proximity of her former enemy.

"Merlin, Draco, you scared me!"

"Well, that was the point!" Draco replied cockily.

"Ugh. You are incorrigible." Hermione smiled slightly, despite her words.

"I know I am." He came closer, their noses nearly touching.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted, and Hermione could feel sparks flying in between them, as if urging her to kiss the man with the gray eyes and blonde hair. At the same time, Draco was wrestling with a similar passion, looking at the chocolate eyes that he had hated for almost 6 years in a different way.

But, then, Hermione broke it by leaning a little backwards, and breathing, "It's late…"

"You're right. Good night, Hermione." Draco slid a little backwards too, on the brown leather of the sofa. He noticed he had said her first name, and noticed that he'd liked it. Hermione. He had liked the four syllables rolling off his tongue.

"Good night…" Hermione hesitated, also noticing the first name basis. "Draco."

Draco smiled gently, and turned towards his room.

He shut the door behind him, and leaned against it, sighing. Relationships could be so confusing sometimes.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello! Sorry for the wait, again, school life! Thanks to reviewers SerpentofDarkness, potterhead27, and alwaysaclaw11.**

Chapter 10

The next morning started with the loud chirrup of the doorbell, and Hermione answered it sleepily.

"Meghana? Why are you here so early?" she grumbled, groggily.

"Early? It's 11 in the morning! Today's our day, remember?" Meghana said, undeterred by Hermione's attitude.

"Holy crap! My alarm clock! Why didn't it ring?"

"It probably did, but you didn't hear it. So what happened last night?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Sensing the sudden change in Hermione's tone, Meghana decided to keep that topic for later.

"Okay, but whatever, we have to get you ready! You're still in your pyjamas!"

"You're right… Shower first?"

"Shower first." Meghana confirmed with a nod.

One hot shower later, Hermione was on her way to the kitchen.

"All right, Meghana, what's on the menu for today?"

"Well, I was thinking North Indian today, maybe _naan _and _palak paneer?_"

"Is the paneer even in stores?"

"Yes, it always is." Meghana smiled a little at her friend's ignorance.

"Well, I've only been here a year!" Hermione said defensively.

"That excuse doesn't work anymore 'Mione, I think you can tell that even for yourself."

"That's true. Anyway, let me grab my purse. Then we can get the things we need."

"And a lunch outside?"

"Yep. We should probably leave something for Ma- Draco, though."

"Ooh, first name basis, hmm? And I think a note is sufficient, Slytherins have their ways." Meghana winked at the end of her statement.

"Okay, a note, then." She grabbed a pen and a nearby pad of paper and scribbled down her note.

_Draco-_

_ Meghana and I have gone out of the house. We won't be back for lunch, so don't wait up. Expect us around 3 in the afternoon. Lunch is your thing today; try not to burn the apartment down. I pay quite a bit for it every month. If you can't handle it, there's a _roti_ place down the street where you can eat. _

_ Yours,_

_ Hermione_

"Look okay?" She asked, holding the note out to her friend for inspection.

"It's a note. Not Snape's next essay. Let's go, or we'll never get everything!" Meghana said exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay, jeez. Let me get my purse and my _chunni!_"

"Well, at least you're wearing that dress enough. I have to get you a pretty one, even though you're rocking the housewife look."

"This is a work dress?"

"Yeah, believe it or not. It cost about 50 rupees. And the shopkeeper let us buy it for 40."

"God, in England, we never had work clothes this pretty."  
"That's 'cause in England, you do real jobs and things. Most women here are stay-at-home moms. Although, things are changing these days."

Hermione glanced at her wristwatch.

"Well, we can talk about Indian feminism later, it's 12 o'clock!"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you for the past hour!" Meghana ran towards the door, and paused at it to wait for Hermione. "I wonder why Malfoy hasn't gotten up yet, though."

"Another thing to ask at the dinner table, which will never happen unless we leave now!"

"You're the one who's been holding us up! Let's go!"

"I'm coming!"

The pair raced out the door, oblivious to the blonde figure in the corner, who was currently trying not to laugh, so he wouldn't give himself away.

_Those two are funny to watch. I'm surprised Gra- Hermione, _he thought. _Called me by my first name. _

He strode over to the note that Hermione had kept on the desk for him. He read it, chuckling. They didn't think that he, Draco Malfoy, was capable of finding anything to eat in this town? The town where he had been a dozen times on business?

_Oh, well, _he thought. _At least I know I'm not eating crap food. Like mushroom pie._ He shivered internally at the thought of the video. **(A/N: You should really watch it, its hilarious. But only 13 and over, please. {strong language}) **

He took a shower, and explored the flat while he waited for an appropriate time to go eat. He found a shoebox in the corner of the closet that no one ever used, and decided to look into it.

The box was marked, _Memories._ Deciding that it looked promising, he took the lid off of the pink box and removed the book that was on top. It was a diary. Moreover, it was _Hermione's _diary.

Draco hesitated, then thought, _What's the worst that could happen? Its not like she's going to be back anytime soon. And maybe I can finally gain some insight into what the Weasel did to her. _

He opened the front cover, and an object fell out. It was a red rose, pressed and preserved to be a bookmark. Red roses signified love, true love.

Draco flipped through the rest of the pages, and found another flower bookmark. This time, though, it was a yellow carnation. He found his book that discussed flower symbolism, and looked up what the yellow carnation meant.

_Yellow Carnation- signifies disappointment in a person, or rejection. _

_This was probably around the time when that bastard had broken up with Hermione, _he reasoned. _Since I found it towards the end of the book. _

Now, he was curious. But, before reading the actual diary, he looked through the rest of the box. Pictures, more dried flowers, and even some jewelry and candy was in it.

The pictures were originally of Weasley and Hermione, but the redhead had been cut out of the photos, leaving Hermione by herself in the snapshots. She would occasionally walk out of the picture, after glaring in the direction of the cut portion. Sometimes, the picture Hermione would wave at Draco, and beam.

A small necklace box had a note inside of it. It read,

_ Dear Hermione, _

_ Happy Valentine's day! I bought this for you, because I know that you're going through some rough times right now. I hope Ginny doesn't mind. I don't think she will, though. _ Draco paused. That seemed a little out of place, for Weasley to write. He skipped to the bottom. The missive was signed, _Harry._ That made sense. He continued to read. _I no longer consider Ron as my friend, and I don't think the Weasleys consider him as family any longer, either. However, Charlie offered to take him to Romania. He refused. Try to stay away from him, please. He says he's going to get you back. Sorry for all the horrible news. But Ginny's moving in with me, so come by Grimmauld Place any time. _

_ Your best friend,_

_ Harry_

Well, that cleared a few things up, at least. Weasel broke up with her near Valentine's while she was still in England. And Harry had obviously written to her when she was still in England, as well.

Time to read the diary. Draco opened the front cover and turned the page.

_September 19, 1998_

_ Dear diary…_

**A/N: Cliffhanger! R&R please! 5 reviews for next chapter **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This chapter starts on the diary entry that I started last chapter. Some of my sharper readers may have noticed I switched the numbers around the first time, it is fixed now. The date is 1998. Sorry again. Thanks to reviewers SerpentofDarkness, Pineapple246, I'm secrectly annoyed with you, potterhead27, and alwaysaclaw11. You guys rock!**

Chapter 11

_September 19, 1998_

_Dear diary,_

_ My name is Hermione Jean Granger, and I am a witch. My friend Harry Potter (Yes, _the_ Harry Potter) gave me this diary as a gift, and I intend to use it to its full capabilities. Today is also my birthday. I am currently dating my friend Ron Weasley, and I love him so much! But first, I must tell you about my school days. _

The diary went on for a few pages about her school life and adventures she had taken with Harry, most of which Draco already knew. He skipped ahead, until another entry caught his eye.

_November 16, 1998_

_Dear diary,_

_ Today, Ron and I went to the nightclub to have some evening fun. We never get to spend too much time together, and so we decided to go. But of course, Ron's ex-girlfriend Lavender has to be there. I told you about Lavender, right? She's so clingy. I don't know how Ron ever liked her. But she was flirting with my boyfriend. _

_ That wasn't what was getting to me, it was the fact that Ron was flirting back! I can't believe that boy. He couldn't just tell that... that _slut_ to back off? No, no, they even made plans to get together someplace. Right in front of me! _

_ Then, when I said something about it, he just frowned and told me I was getting clingy, too. If clingy means that I keep a faithful relationship, then I guess I am clingy. That's all for now, I really needed to let that out._

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione _

Draco remembered this story, from the one that Harry had told him. He must be getting closer to the actual breakup. He skipped a few pages, which had poems on them, and eventually found the entry he was looking for.

_January 27, 1999_

_Dear diary,_

_ Today, Ron and I broke up. I am still quite shaken, but I had to write here, so you would know what was happening. _

_ I went over to Ron's to return his jacket, and give him some brownies that I had made last night. He didn't answer the door, so I went in the back way, which he had shown me in case he didn't answer. Paranoid war times, you see. You could never be too careful. _

_ Anyway, I go up to his bedroom, fearing the worst, when I see Lavender. With Ron. In his bed. Fast asleep. Half naked. I couldn't believe this, so I left his jacket and the brownies, with a note telling him to never come over, or speak to me again. Then I left. _

_ I do hope he gets the message. I am going over to Harry's now; I need some comfort. _

_Sincerely, _

_Hermione_

Draco could see that the handwriting was shaky, and faded marks of tears on the paper were still visible for him to see. He flipped through the book until he found the very last entry.

_April 12, 2001_

_Dear diary,_

_ I am leaving. I can't take this anymore, Ron trying to approach me everywhere, with that stupid brunette Lavender on his arm. I'm going somewhere far away. Not in Britain, somewhere no one will ever find me. My friend Pradeep lives in India, maybe I'll go there. It'll break my heart to leave Ginny and Harry, but there is nothing left for me here. I need a fresh start._

_ This is also my last entry in this diary. It is filled with too many bad memories. To whoever is reading this, please forgive me. I just can't take it. I'm taking this diary with me, and I will send it to Ginny later, after a couple of years, if I don't see them before that. _

_ Farewell diary, and you can find me in India. _

_Sincerely,_

_Hermione_

Draco shut the book, gazing into the space in front of him. He couldn't believe Weasel had taken their relationship so lightly, as if it was of unimportance to him. He obviously didn't love Hermione, or consider her worthy of his _attentions._

He placed the book back into the memory box and put the box back, exactly where he had found it. The clock struck 1, and he decided that it was time for a meal. He went out onto the street, and hailed an auto.

An auto is like an open cab, with a bar on one side to keep you from falling out. No seat belts, and the side you got in from was completely unprotected by anything.

He told the driver to go to Abids, because he remembered a really nice place to eat there. What he didn't remember was how big it was and how much time it took to get from one place to another. Not to mention the big time traffic.

He sighed, leaning against the back of the seat. This was going to be a long ride.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Meghana had already found the place that _they_ were going to eat in. So, they were sitting at the table, waiting to order.

A waiter walked up to their table. "_Meeku emi cavali, ivala?_" What would you like, today?

"Eemah ki yemo wokah dosa, inka naku wokah naanu." Meghana replied. She will have one dosa, and I will have a naan.

"Naanu tho edhena caavala?" Would you like anything with the naan?

"Avunu, wokah palak paneer koda theescra." Yes, bring a palak paneer, too.

"Alagay, madam." All right, madam. The waiter walked off towards the kitchen.

"What language was that?" Hermione asked curiously.

"It was Telugu. In this part of Hyderabad- in all the parts, really- it's what most people speak."

"It sounds awfully complicated."

"It's a little harder than Hindi, but I grew up with it, so its not too hard. The grammar for some people who study it as a second or third language is very, very complicated, though."

"Aside from that, why are you having our dinner in the resteraunt?"

"What are- oh, wait. You're right, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am." Hermione smiled smugly.

"Whatever, it's my favorite dish, and I think I can totally live with eating it twice in a day."

"What did you have for breakfast?"

"Just some bread and jam."

"I don't understand how you even need jam here. The bread is so sweet! You cane even get it with raisins and things in it!"

"True, but people who grew up with it, they don't feel that way, now do they?" Meghana reminded her.

"That's true too.. So where are we headed after lunch?"

The two continued chatting aimlessly until their food came. A sudden breeze lifted the paper underneath her food, and Hermione looked up.

She gasped. Because Ron Weasley was entering the café.

**A/N: Ron's back! Next chapter is some backstory as to why he's there. Again, 5 reviews before posting! It seems to be working out. The Telugu in this chapter was from my native speaking, so apologies if it was grammatically incorrect. Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hello! And in response to some of your reviews, the language towards the end of the last chapter WAS NOT Hindi. Rather, it was Telugu. A little more complicated than Hindi. Anyways, thanks to my reviewers Pineapple246, I'm secrectly annoyed with you, DoodleDooo, Serpent **

Chapter 12

_Flashback…._

Ron bid his wife a goodbye as he walked out the door of their 2-story house. He couldn't believe that Harry wasn't siding with him and was still friends with that muggle-born _thing. _How did he himself change his mind, you may ask? Well, here's the story.

_Flashback within a flashback… (Flashbackception?)_

It had been a nice day for Ron Weasley. He had seen his ex-girlfriend at a club, and they had made plans to meet again. Maybe do a little more than just meet?

He felt a little bad for cheating on Hermione, but she had gone out with Viktor Krum, _and _Cormac Mclaggen. So why shouldn't he have some fun?

Suddenly, he has surrounded by men in masks. His war instincts coming out, he drew his wand and shouted, "Reveal yourselves!"

The first man unmasked himself, revealing a young man in his early thirties, with brown hair and blue eyes.

"I am Steven Shultz, and I have to talk to you, Mr. Weasley."

"Make your other friends take off their stupid masks too, then."

"Men, men, where are your manners? Let me introduce Derek Heservja, Greg Thomas, Aiden Fisher, and Ethan Williams." Steven said, as the men took off their masks as he called their names.

"Come with me to my humble abode, and we can continue our talk. Bad place, here in the streets." He said silkily.

"All right, but I'm watching you guys." Ron walked behind them, suspiciously glancing at each one in succession.

They apparated to a lovely, spacious mansion, which reminded Ron of a red velvet cupcake. He didn't exactly know why, but he was a Weasley, and Weasleys loved food.

As Steven took him inside, he could smell cinnamon throughout the whole house. They sat down in a blue sitting room and began their talk.

"So, I've heard you are going out with a Miss Hermione Granger?"

"You've heard right," Ron said, seemingly resignedly.

"I sense you are not satisfied with this relationship?"

"Yes.. There is this other girl. She's more exciting and entertaining than Hermione, and she doesn't boss me around all day like her."

"Is she pureblood?"

"Yes.." Ron said, surprised by the question. "Why?"

"Because, for a person of your fame, muggle born witches are simply not good enough for you. You should hurt them in the greatest way possible, without physically touching her."

"Um, no. I fought a whole war to end this prejudice, and I'm not going to throw away a years worth of hard work just to please you." Ron said harshly.

"What if I told you that she's been hanging out with some other men?"

"Prove it."

Steven held up a picture of Hermione and Dean Thomas in an empty corridor, with Hermione hugging Dean.

"What is this?"

"This is evidence that muggle borns cannot be trusted. Join us. Or adopt our principles."

"Yes. I will! I'll show that little slut who's boss."

"Now, now, no physical torture. All mental. Mental only."

"You got it, boss. Contact me in a month, I'll have it all done by then." Ron turned around, robes flying out behind him, crazy with anger. And with Ron, anger doesn't calm down very easily.

The rest was history.

_Back to original flashback….. _

Ron snapped out of his thoughts. He had overheard Hermione talking about her friend Pradeep who lived in India. It wasn't very hard to find that name within the foreign contacts book at the ministry.

Ron made a Floo call to the man and scheduled an appointment with him for Thursday. He was ready to hurt that Mudblood a little more.

_Meanwhile, in Pradeep's office…._

Pradeep sighed and looked at the clock. It had been a long morning at the office, and he was anxious to get off and go to his lunch break.

"Rohan! Do I have any more appointments before lunch?"

"Yes, sir. 1 appointment, from a Mr. Ron Weasley, at 11:30."

"Is he here yet?"

"No- Oh, no sorry, yes, he just Flooed in. Should I send him over?"

"Yes, please."

Pradeep waited with a professional air, so that this man would know exactly whom he was dealing with.

Ron walked in to the office to meet a man with round glasses and black hair.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley." Pradeep said in his lightly accented English "Please have a seat."

"Hello. I am not here to do business with you today, Mr. Simhasan, rather, I am here to enquire about a friend of mine. Hermione Granger?"

"Ah, yes, Hermione!" Pradeep said, with a smile lighting his usually serious features. "She is living in Hyderabad as well."

"She is, is she? If you could give me her address, that would be wonderful, sir."

"Sorry, it is not my policy, and also, I would have to ask Hermione whether she would like her information to be given out. She apparently had a very cruel friend in England, and would rather not meet that man again. I can't quite recall his name.."

"Ah. Maybe I'll run into her then."

"Would you like me to give her your name?"

"No, no!" Ron said hastily. "No, I would like my visit to be a surprise."

"Ah. Okay, thank you for visiting then, Mr. Weasley."

"My pleasure." Ron got up and left, barely concealing his intense displeasure. He decided to take a quick lunch break before continuing his efforts to find the brunette.

While walking down the road, he saw a small café-like place that looked and smelled good. So, being the Weasley that he was, he decided to go there.

DM/HG

Hermione gasped. Ron couldn't be here! He wasn't even supposed to know that she was in India, let alone Hyderabad!

Meghana heard her gasp, and looked up.

"Kya hua, 'Mione?"

"Um, it's nothing…" she replied, with a glance in Ron's direction.

Meghana followed her gaze and saw the redhead, too. "It's Weasley! I'm going to kill that little boy!"

She made to get up, but was stopped by Hermione's hand.

"He can's see me here! I-"

"And he won't see you." Meghana glanced around her to make sure no one was looking, and then cast a Disillusionment Charm on Hermione.

Hermione felt the odd sensation, and lifted her arms to see that the charm had indeed worked its magic.

Then, Meghana got up, and confronted Ron.

"Hello, Weasley."

"That's who I am. And may I ask, who are _you?_" The ginger said, looking Meghana up and down.

"I am Meghana Shivshankar. Come and sit with me."

"My pleasure. So tell me, are you a witch?"

"Of course I am."

"Do you know another witch in this area by the name of Hermione Granger?"

"I don't, actually." She said, with a meaningful glance in Hermione's direction.

Ron groaned. "I've been trying to find her."

"Why, is she your girlfriend?"

"Of course not! She is a slutty, bossy, know-it-all _Mudblood."_

Unable to stand this comment, Meghana lost her temper and slapped Ron across the face.

Then, she said in a dark voice, "Hermione Granger is one of the greatest witches of all time, and one of my best friends. Don't ever, _ever_, try to find her or hurt her ever again, or you'll be getting a lot more than one little slap."

She got up, swept her long black hair over her shoulder, and began to walk out the door.

"Meghana! Meghana! Wait, I need you to tell me-" Ron shouted after her, but she was already gone.

Hermione took this as her cue to leave as well, then quietly got up and collected her things from underneath the table.

She pushed him a little as she walked past, then as soon as she got out onto the street, removed the charm.

Not at all in the mood to finish eating, the two girls simply grabbed a coffee and proceeded to finish their shopping.

**A/N: Please review! 5 reviews before update, as is the drill.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Chapter 13 at last! Sorry for the wait, and a big shoutout to my reviewers I'm secrectly annoyed with you, DoodleDooo, Pineapple246, potterhead27, PhoenixEye10000, SerpentofDarkness, TheHarryPotterGeek. Love you all!**

Chapter 13

The episode in the restaurant was forgotten about in the enjoyable evening that followed. After collecting their ingredients, they went home, laughing and hauling their 5 bags of goods.

Draco showed up just when they were unpacking, leaning against the doorframe and whispering in Hermione's ear, which just happened to be close to him, "Miss me?"

Hermione leapt into the air, startled, and dropped the glass jar of red chili powder on the floor, with the sound of shattered glass to accompany the symphony.

She turned around slowly, anger in her every feature. Then, it cleared, as suddenly as it had come.

"Draco?" she said sweetly.

"Yes?" Draco replied, apprehensively, sensing that nothing good was coming his way.

"I seem to have dropped this chili powder. Could you do me a favor and sweep it up? By hand?"

"How?"

"Oh, I know you'll figure out a way. No protective eye charms either!"

"Why would I need protective eye charms?" he scoffed. "Watch, it can't possibly affect me!" He dipped his fingers into the stuff, and rubbed his eyes with the same hands.

"See, nothi- AHHHH! MY EYES! THEY BURN!" Draco screamed, running blindly towards the sink.

"Draco! This is what your ego gets you… Splash water in them, then cast _Scourgify."_

Silence, as Draco hurried to follow Hermione's directions.

"Now, I'll go get some more chili powder… Meghana, can you start making the dough for the _naans_?"

"Of course, you go ahead." Meghana had been trying to suppress her laughter, and was waiting till either Hermione or Draco stepped out of the room to let it out.

"Thanks." She walked out, and Meghana waited until she heard the front door shut behind her to break into hysterical peals of laughter.

"You…. Should… have… seen your…. FACE!" Her words were punctuated with fits of laughter.

Draco stood by her, unamused. He raised an eyebrow imperiously.

Seeing this, Meghana laughed even harder.

"I'm the Slytherin here! You should be taking my side and crying over this disgrace beside me, not laughing your arse off at me!" Draco exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I'm the one who's going to hook you two up, and bring about your happily ever after!"

"Um, excuse me?"

"Oops. I didn't say that, you heard different." Meghana said, suddenly uneasy.

"No, I may be almost blinded, but my hearing is perfectly sound. And I heard the term 'hook you two up.'" Draco said smugly.

"Okay, so I might have said it, but I has half mad with laughter! What makes you think I meant it?"

"You never let anything out but the truth when you are in a laughing fit. Last time you had one, you said that one day Theo and Daphne would get together. They're married now!"

"Maybe I'm a Seer! Don't blame me for my 'all-knowing Inner Eye!'" Meghana changed her voice at the end to mimic their former Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney.

"So, anyway, what was this about hooking Hermione and I up?"

Knowing her act was up, she gave in and confessed.

"Yeah, maybe I am trying to get you guys together. But it's pretty obvious that you at least like her. Your face when you were against that stupid doorframe. It was so protective."

"I don't like her! She's… She's GRANGER for heaven's sake! I can't possible like her!" exclaimed Draco.

"Oh, but you do! That's why you're not even arguing the point that I am trying to get you two together, but rather, simply denying that you like her at all!"

Draco reexamined the conversation in his mind, trying to find a piece of evidence. He couldn't, obviously.

"So maybe I do like her… What should I do? Weasley'll kill me, and she's got a date on Friday."

"Oh, with whom?" Meghana squealed, back to her girlish ways.

"The barman at the Leaky Cauldron."

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute! I can't believe she hasn't told me yet!"

"What about me!?" asked Draco incredulously.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll get a girlfriend, too." she replied absentmindedly.

"MEGHANA! Have you been paying attention at all throughout this conversation?"

"Oh, Merlin, Draco, sorry. Don't worry, give it some time. Just sit back and let your ol' friend Meghana do the work. She'll like you too, just like this." She snapped her fingers to make her point, then turned around at the sharp noise of the door shutting.

"She's back! Act natural!" She pretended to be examining something in the sink, while Draco, with no idea what to do, stuck his head into the cabinet on his right.

"What are you guys doing?" Hermione asked amusedly, as she set the new jar of chili powder on the counter.

"I'm just uh.. looking at this pickle, it seems to have gone bad, 'Mione." Said Meghana, pointing at the red sauce in the sink.

"That may be why it's in the sink. And what are you doing, Draco?"

"Looking for some uh… coriander."

"Coriander is a plant. So it'd be in the fridge."

"Yes, of course, that's where I was going to look!" Draco walked to the fridge, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Were you guys making out or something?" The amused tone was still in Hermione's voice, and it was shaking now from suppressed laughter.

"WHAT?! NO FRICKIN' WAY." Draco and Meghana looked at each other, and spoke at the exact same time, with looks of intense disgust on their faces.

Hermione broke into full-blown gales of laughter, leaning on the counter for support.

"I just thought, since you were acting so unnatural, you might have been…" Hermione wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, then let herself calm down.

"All right, Draco, we're going to start cooking, and unless you want some more spices in your face, I suggest that you leave. We have quite a variety to choose from." She added when Draco made no move to leave.

"Okay, okay, I'll get my distractingly beautiful self out of your kitchen so you two women can cook my supper…" And with a smirk, he strutted out of the room.

"How could you say that?" Meghana said a little heatedly to her best friend. "Draco Malfoy? Really?"

"Sorry, it wasn't you, I just wanted to embarrass him…. Sorry." Hermione smiled apologetically.

"It's all right, all in a good joke, right?"

"Yes, yes, a joke."

The rest of the afternoon passed amiably, with the naans and palak paneer wafting their delicious aromas into the living room.

When Meghana had finished setting the table, they all sat down, and Hermione began to say grace.

Draco interrupted her.

"You never usually say grace. Why are you saying it today?"

"Because today is a special day, and we have company."

"What day is it?"

"Thursday."

"You know what I mean."

"All right, I'll tell you, let me finish!"

So Hermione finished saying grace, and then served everybody a heaping helping of food from every pot.

Meghana murmured a quiet thanks, and then picked up her silverware and began to eat.

"So, you wanted to know why today was special. I'll tell you." Hermione started her tale. "It all started when…"

**A/N: Cutoff! 5 reviews for next chapter! That review button down there is contemplating suicide if you do not press it right now! Thanks! Also, I'd like some feedback on what should happen next. Suggestions? **

**P.S. Always on the lookout for some great talent... If you think your story is pretty awesome, leave a link in your review! ~ANEwrites**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Wow, such an awesome response to the last chapter! Thanks to my awesome reviewers SerpentofDarkness, gralu4ever, potterhead27, PhoenixEye10000, and DoodleDooo. You guys rock!**

Chapter 14

"So, you wanted to know why today was special. I'll tell you." Hermione started her tale. "It all started when…"

"When she and Ron broke up." Meghana interjected. "And she came to India."

"Would you let me finish?" Hermione glared at Meghana. Meghana nodded meekly. "Now where was I? Oh yes, I came to India, and I stayed in a hotel for a few days. Then, I ran headfirst into a careless girl with half a dozen boxes in her arms, on the street.

"Her name was Meghana. So, I offered to help her carry her stuff home. She accepted, and introduced me to her very large extended family. We've been friends ever since!"

"Yes, it's our friend-aversary! Guess what I got you?" Meghana said.

"Hmm… A bracelet?"

"No, I got you a necklace!" And Meghana pulled out a beautiful gold-plated necklace, complete with a ruby in the center of the flower-shaped locket.

"Oh my… Meghana, I can't accept this! Not when I only got you…" She paused as she pawed around in her purse. "This!"

Now, Hermione was holding a pretty straw hat with a peacock feather in the band, and a purse that matched it.

Meghana gasped. "Wow, this is so pretty!"

Meanwhile, Draco was sitting there, having gotten his answer, waiting for the girl stuff to end so he could start his dinner without being impolite.

"Yes, yes, OMG and all that, now could we please begin eating?" Draco said irritably.

Both the girls blushed and put their things to the side. The meal began in an awkward silence as the talking had dwindled to a stop.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Hermione, who had just finished and was patting around her mouth with a napkin, got up and opened it.

The two Slytherins at the table could hear her asking who the guest was, and apparently satisfied with the answer, ushering him in.

"Meghana! Come see who it is! You too, Draco, you had better come as well."

"Draco's here? I was wondering where he went." A deep voice with a hint of an Italian accent was heard to the pair in the dining room, and knowing exactly who this was, Draco ran into the front room.

"Blaise!" The Italian got up and pounded his friend on the back heartily. "Finally moved in with the girl of your dreams, have you? I never thought you'd go for Granger."

The two people in question blushed deeply, and defended that they were not at all in love or dating. Although, Draco whispered in his best friend's ear, "Not yet, anyway."

Blaise smirked at this comment, and greeted Meghana as well, whom he had known for quite a while, and even had dated at one point.

"Meghana! Fancy seeing you here!"

"Blaise! How's life been to you?"

"Not well, I'm afraid. Alcohol is my bestest friend… Blaise put on a puppy-dog face, and asked, "You wouldn't happen to have any here would you?"

Meghana slapped him lightly, and said, "Of course not!" Then, she lowered her voice and whispered conspiratorially, "How could I, with Hermione around all the time?"

Blaise laughed, and said, "Yes, well, the bookworm's grown up, hasn't she?" He looked her up and down, eyes lingering on her curves.

"You're almost at my eyes, Blaise, maybe another couple of feet up would help. " Hermione remarked, frowning slightly.

"Well, I must be going anyway, it's nearly time for the Leaky Cauldron to open up."

"All right, now that I know that you know where I live, come and visit sometime!" Draco said.

"Sure, mate. Bye Draco, Meghana, hot babe." Blaise teased, and then walked out the door.

Hermione rolled her eyes. The nerve of some men.

"I'd best be going as well, 'Mione, I've work tomorrow."

"Sure, Meghana, see you later. Thanks for the present."

"No, thank you! Bye 'Mione! Bye Draco!" She walked out, following Blaise's earlier path down the stairs.

"Well, now that we have about 4 hours on our hands, we can go sightseeing!" Hermione said brightly, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"Umm, let's just walk around town, and go get coffee or something. I can show you things."

The Slytherin nodded, and walked to his room to grab his coat. Hermione did the same, and in a few minutes, they were off.

They walked down the narrow street, glancing around every few seconds, Hermione knowing what the darkness could reveal. Crime was a big issue in India. A small café that her friend owned was down by the block, and she wanted to go say hello.

"Hey, Draco?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah?" He turned towards her.

"I'm going to be right back, okay? There's someone I want to talk to in that café by the end."

Draco saw it and shuddered involuntarily, his aristocratic instincts kicking in for a second.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and said, "I'll just be a minute. Stay right here."

"All right, mother." Draco teased, and waved her away.

Hermione smiled, and began her walk down the street.

As soon as she was out of earshot, however, a dark figure stepped from the alley to the left of Draco. Draco saw the figure from the corner of his peripheral vision and slipped his hand under his cloak, ready to grab his wand at any moment.

The figure stepped into the glow of the streetlight and was revealed to have fire truck-red hair, and blue eyes. Any guesses?

"Weasley." Draco addressed him in a bored voice, even though he was more than a little apprehensive at the sight of the man who had hurt his roommate so much.

"Malfoy." Ron hissed through clenched teeth. "You don't act very surprised. I wasn't even supposed to know you and your _Mudblood girlfriend_ were in India."

"First off, don't call her Mudblood, second, she's not my girlfriend, and third, no, Weasley, I can't say I am very surprised."  
"Why not?" Ron said, looking a little proud.

"Because you have nothing better to do in your life than stalk your ex-girlfriend when you have a pregnant wife at home, bastard." Malfoy smirked. "Did you think I was _complimenting _you? I sincerely hope not. I need to step up my game, obviously."

Ron looked affronted, and his face resumed his clenched teeth expression.

"Anyway, I must know, where can I visit you lot? I've been wondering."

"I'm not going to tell you. I'm not stupid, unlike you, I might add."

"Fine, let's duel it out. I win, and you hand over your address and the keys, you win and I'll just leave this slum town."

"It's not a slum town. And fine, let's do this! Good luck." Draco said sarcastically.

"You too, Mal-fart." Ron said, equally sarcastic.

They stepped away from each other, "bowing"- which in this case means that they slightly moved their heads in a forward way, not down like the word bowing would imply- and raised their wands.

Ron made the first move, moving his wand and saying, _Adava Kedavra._

**A/N: Please review, I'm having a terrible day.. Also, the review button down there is thinking about cutting her wrists until she turns into Ebony from **_**My Immortal**_**, so please review! 5 reviews to next chapter! Adios.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry, I was sort of busy this whole week and wasn't able to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks to reviewers ABprongslett, potterhead27, SerpentofDarkness, DoodleDooo, ****griffonorchic, SesshyRin3, and Guest. You guys make my day!**

Chapter 15

_"Avada Kedavra!" _

Draco dove out of the way of the green light, and got up again, furious.

"You can't use an Unforgivable in a duel!"

"Who's going to stop me, Malfoy? _Avada Kedavra!_"

"About half the Ministry, the spells are Tabooed, you idiot!" Draco sputtered after diving into a puddle to avoid the spell.

As if on cue, the Auror squad appeared around them, with Harry at its head, looking as if he had left in a terrible hurry.

"Drop your wands and put your hands up!" He said in a commanding voice. "Who cast the spell?"

"Weasley did, Potter." Malfoy gestured to his soaking frame, which clearly said that he had been trying to avoid something. Or at least, it did to Head Auror Potter, who knew exactly what he was doing.

"Mr. Weasley, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can and will be used against you." Harry cast the Body-Bind Charm onto Ron, and turned to Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, we're going to need to take you in, for evidence, and to prove that you are telling the truth. We're also going to need some testimony in the report." Then he bent and whispered conspiratorially, "Sorry, mate, Ministry procedure. Where's Hermione?"

"She's down the street at some café. Can I apparate over there after I tell her?"

"Sure thing, bring her along, too, actually. Then we can use additional information about the restaurant last night. That case is also currently pending, I wanted to bring Ron in first. But I'll need to place a tracking spell on you, to make sure you don't run."

"Fine. I'll do that. " Draco replied, and straightened up.

"All right, let's take Weasley down to the Ministry, and Malfoy here will come in as soon as he gets Miss Granger for witness testimony about yesterday's incident." Harry ordered his team, and in a blink of an eye, they were gone.

Harry remained behind, and placed a simple tracking spell on Draco, told him exactly where to go, and then apparated away.

Hermione could be seen now walking down the street, wonderfully oblivious, smiling at the sight of him. Draco felt almost sorry for her, to be breaking her seemingly happy mood so quickly. He ran up ahead and caught up with her.

"Hermione!"

"Yeah? Wait- what happened to you?" Hermione gave him a questioning glance, taking in the wet clothes and dirt.

"No time to explain, I have to take you to the Ministry." He said tersely, grasping her arm and preparing to apparate.

"Wait!" Hermione shook free. "Am I in trouble? But I haven't done anything!"

Draco chuckled once.

"No, Granger, you're not in trouble." He reassured. "Now let's go!" He grasped her arm again, and apparated to the front office of the Ministry.

"Draco, I still don't know what's going on!" She spotted Harry across the room. "Harry! Please tell me what's going on!"

"Malfoy, I told you to tell her!" Harry said, slightly resentful.

"Time is money." Draco quoted somberly.

"Which you have quite enough of." Harry retorted, then turned to Hermione. "Ron tried to use an Unforgivable on Malfoy here. I've brought him in for questioning."

Hermione gasped. "Which one?"

Harry hesitated slightly, as if ashamed to say that his former friend had tried to kill one of his current friends.

"_Avada Kedavra._"

Hermione stood speechless for a second, and then proceeded to push past Draco and Harry with a furious expression on her face.

"Hermione where- Hermione, wait!" Harry called from behind her. "You can't see him! He's in confinem- Ugh, too late." This last part was mainly to himself, because Hermione had just gone through the doors to the holding cells for criminals.

"Say Potter, when did the Ministry start using American criminal laws?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, a little preoccupied.

"'You have the right to remain silent', 'Anything you say or do can and will be used against you', all that is American."

"Oh, it seemed like a more effective way to bring in wizarding criminals. The old method wasn't deemed 'civil' after the war."

"What was that?"

"Tie 'em up, and if they refused to go, use a Cruciatus on them. Only for serious criminals, like who used an Unforgivable." Harry hastened to reassure.

"Ah. What fun." Draco and Harry stood impatiently outside of the doors, waiting for Hermione to come out.

When she finally did, her cheeks were red from anger and her face was dripping tears of frustration.

Harry rushed forward to comfort her, and Hermione leaned into his hug and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shh, shh, everything will be alright. Shhh…" Harry said soothingly, and her crying subsided into hiccups.

"Sorry, Harry. I just, Ron, he's such a _dick._" Hermione said vehemently. "Why am I here anyway? Draco was the one in the accident."

"Well, I also filed a report about yesterday. You see, we were trying to get ahold of Ron since then, the Taboo was our big break."

"Ah. Okay. So when's the trial?"

"Tomorrow at the crack of dawn. So be there!" Harry said fake-brightly, smiling at the look of disbelief on Hermione's face.

"I have to wake up at the crack of dawn?"

"Five-thirty to be exact." Harry continued in the same bright voice.

"To testify against this bastard of a man?" Hermione asked again, this time, her voice a little thoughtful.

"Please, Hermione. We need you. I need you." Harry pleaded.

"All right, all right, I'll do it. But.."

Harry groaned. "What is it?"

"You have to buy me dinner one day, and throw a party."

"Deal…"

"And I'm telling Ginny so if you or I forget, she definitely won't." Hermione smirked when Harry groaned again, loudly.

"But, 'Mione…"

"Uh-uh-uh! You wanted a trial, you get a trial."

"Whatever…."

"And I have to be out by seven, I have a date with the barman at the Leaky Cauldron."

"I swear, if that man ruins your life again, I'm going to pound his sorry arse into the ground because I didn't get to with Ron."

"Stop it, Harry…." Hermione smiled anyway, at his overprotectiveness.

_The next day at 5:30 in the morning, a time which Hermione is quite uncomfortable with but bears because she is getting a party and a dinner taken care of by Ginny:_

"All rise for the honorable judge Kingsley." The bailiff bowed the Minister of Magic, who was judging the case, into the room.

"Please be seated. We are gathered here today to hear the case Weasley v.s. Potter, Malfoy, Granger, and Weasley. Mr. Weasley is accused of aggravated battery against Mr. Potter, Ms. Weasley, and Ms. Granger, as well as attempted murder towards Mr. Malfoy. Will the prosecution please present their case?"

**A/N: The end of another installment in this crappy tale. 5 reviews to update! **


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hello, I'm very, very sorry for the slow updates, but spring break is coming up soon, and maybe then I can keep to my two updates a week schedule. Thanks to my reviewers persevera, Hayley, ABprongslett, sneezingpanda12345, mickey, guest, PhoenixEye10000, SerpentofDarkness, potterhead27, DoodleDooo, guest and guest. You guys rock!**

Chapter 16

The trial continued through the morning, as Ginny and the Weasleys showed up after the first recess. The time was nearing noon, time for lunch.

"The court will now take a recess, for the lunch hour. Please return to court in exactly two hours. Dismissed." Kingsley boomed, and left his seat with a swish of his robes.

The rest of court followed suit, and a great hubbub broke out, the Weasleys, Draco, Harry, and Hermione grouping together and walking out of the courtroom to have lunch.

"I just can't believe my baby would do this!" Mrs. Weasley, who was still in a great shock, exclaimed. "He was such a nice boy, and you two were his best friends. First he cheats on Hermione, now this." She broke into soft sobs, leaning on her daughter's shoulder.

"I'm very disappointed in him. I can't believe he would do this to our family. One of the most famous ones of us, a member of the Golden Trio, accused of associating with what remains of the Dark Side. And attempting to murder his best friend's roommate." Mr. Weasley said, avoiding saying Draco's name, unsure of how to address him.

Draco noticed his unease, and quickly said, "Mr. Weasley, I know our families have had differences in the past, but I'm not one of them. I wasn't proud to be a Malfoy, but forced to. Can you accept my apology?"

"Of course, er-"

"Draco. You can call me Draco."

"Draco, then." Mr. Weasley smiled for the first time that day. "Rooming with Hermione in India, are you?"

"Yes, I am. I didn't even know it was going to be her. I can't say that I was very thrilled when I found out, though."

"Hey." Hermione shoved his arm, as he chuckled.

"Hay is for horses!" He teased, grinning.

Hermione laughed. What they weren't quite aware of was the Weasleys and Harry smiling and exchanging glances, each with the same message: _Those two will get together before long._

DM/HG

"Now that both sides have presented their cases, the jury will now reach a verdict. Jury?" Kingsley requested the jury to present their verdict.

"Your Honor, the jury rules that Mr. Weasley is guilty of all charges." Jakob Beck stepped forward from the jury, as he said this.

_He kind of looks like Nikolas… _Thought Hermione absently. _Wait, NIKOLAS! _She had completely forgotten about her date. She looked at the clock frantically, and saw that it was still five o'clock. She breathed a sigh of relief, which did not go unnoticed by either Draco or Harry, who were on either side of the brunette witch.

Kingsley cleared his throat, and asked, "And what sentence does the jury suggest?"

"We suggest life in Azkaban for the use of an Unforgivable Curse on an innocent citizen."

"The accused is sentenced to life in Azkaban." Kingsley slammed his gavel on to the podium. "Case closed. The court is dismissed."

Hermione, Draco, Harry, and the Weasleys were in complete shock. They hadn't expected such a harsh sentence. But then again, that was the punishment for an Unforgivable Curse.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley decided to go to Ron's house to tell Lavender the news that her child would never see its father. Draco and Hermione decided to return home, after all, Hermione had a date tonight.

"Bye." Said Harry miserably, still not over the shock. "Good luck on your date, 'Mione."

"Thanks Harry." Hermione hugged him tightly, and whispered in his ear, "It's for the greater good."

Harry laughed softly at the reference and hugged her back. Then, Hermione untangled herself, waved one last time, and walked towards the Floo rooms.

Draco stayed behind.

"Sorry, Potter."

"'Sall right, Malfoy."

"Bye.."

"Bye."

Draco turned and walked after Hermione, smiling a little as he compared his conversation to Hermione's. He couldn't say that he felt sorry for the Weasley git, but he felt sorry for his family and friends. Maybe even his unborn child. But not his wife. His wife was a bitch.

He jogged a little to catch up with her, and slowed his pace as he came up beside her.

"Hey… Are you okay?" he asked tentatively.

"No." Hermione answered curtly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Leave me alone."

Knowing exactly how she felt, he gave her her space and followed her through the Floo. The elevator ride was silent and slightly awkward, and as soon as Hermione opened the door to the apartment, she rushed off towards her room and slammed the door behind her.

Draco could hear the sobbing before she apparently cast a silencing charm. He slumped on the couch, just waiting for the monotony to end.

And, in about an hour, it did. It ended in a very pleasant way for Draco. Hermione walked out of her bedroom door. And this is what she looked like.

Eyes down, and her face still a little pink from crying, wearing a black dress with flower print on the bottom and rhinestones around her waist. It had spaghetti straps and looked beautiful on her. Her hair was curled around her face, not her regular bushy curls, but carefully styled ones. She held a silver leather clutch purse in her hand, and wore black strappy heels on her feet.

As she neared him, she met his eyes and allowed the corner of her mouth to turn up as she saw his astonished expression.

"See something you like?" she teased. Her smile dropped a little and she came to sit next to him. "Listen, I-"

"It's okay, Granger. I get it." Draco patted her shoulder awkwardly. "You look nice. Where are you going?"

"To the Leaky Cauldron. For Nikolas."

"Oh yeah, the bartender. Remind me why you said yes again?"

"I needed more dates in my life."

"Meghana won't be happy that you didn't let her use you as a Barbie doll tonight."

"She'll have to deal with it. I'm already late." She glanced at her watch, and began to get up from the couch. "Bye, Malfoy."

"And good riddance." Draco sighed loudly, and was rewarded with a giggle as Hermione rounded the corner and shut the door behind her. He heard the click of the lock and her heels stepping away.

Not more than twenty minutes after she had left, there was a knock on the door. When Draco answered it, he saw a familiar Italian face.

"Hey, Malfoy. How's it going?"

DM/HG

Hermione arrived in the Leaky Cauldron, cheeks flushed from the running and the Floo ride she had to endure to get here on time.

Nikolas saw her out of the corner of his eye and grinned at her. He was serving a whiskey to a lean man that Hermione recognized as Dean Thomas, her former classmate.

"Dean!" She stepped forward to meet him.

"Oh, hey, Hermione! Where've you been? You kind of just dropped off the radar for like two years."

"Oh, I was out of town. I needed to get away."

"Oh."

"So how've you been? Got a girl?" she teased.

"Yep."

"Well? Who?"

"Parvati Patil." Dean blushed a little.

"Wow, I haven't seen Parvati in forever."

"Yes, well she's been lonely. Her and Lavender fell apart after what Lavender did to you and Ron, Parvati just couldn't believe it."

"Well…"

"I've heard Ron's been incarcerated?"

"Yes, and a rather unfortunate sentence too, life in Azkaban."

Dean was shocked. "How the bloody hell?"

"He tried to use an Unforgivable on Draco. Malfoy." She added quickly to cover up her mistake.

Dean looked a little confused, but covered it. "That's terrible 'Mione. So what brings you here today?"

Hermione was grateful for the subject change. "Well, I'm on a date with Nikolas here." She gestured towards Nikolas, who was eyeing the pair with interest.

"Hello." Nikolas greeted Dean heartily, and reached forward to shake his hand.

"Hello, Nikolas. I'm Dean Thomas, Hermione's old schoolmate."

"Hello, Dean. I was in Hufflepuff, myself.

"Well, Gryffindors didn't associate much with Hufflepuff. Rather unfortunate, really."

"I don't think anyone associated much with the Hufflepuffs. We're supposed to be a bunch of nutters, right?" Nikolas joked.

Dean laughed along, and after a few more minutes of banter, they broke apart, and Nikolas took Hermione out of the bar.

"Finally alone." He grinned, but his smile had somewhat of an undertone to it. Hermione couldn't exactly place it, though.

"Yes.." Hermione smiled back, albeit confused, just a bit.

"Let's go, I have a favorite place, right down the block."

The pair walked off, soon only two silhouettes in the setting sun.

**A/N: Here are the links for the dress and purse:**

** Dress: ** Pretty-Rhinestones-Chiffon-Printed-Cocktail/dp/B006ZUH0JS

**Purse: ** author/jill/ **-Scroll down to the Jimmy Choo Metallic Leather Purse.**

** 5 reviews to update! Thanks for all the support, guys.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey you guys! Awesome response to my last chapter, thanks to reviewers Dracos-Mione123, Guest, RainCentaur11122, Little Miss Disney Geek, mickey-x, potterhead27, ****HitsugayaXHinamori**, **and persevera****. And a special shout-out to SerpentofDarkness, whose suggestion will be used in this chapter. Suggestions are very much appreciated, and if I like it, I'll use it in the story!**

Chapter 17

Nikolas led his date down the busy streets of evening London. Gradually, the surroundings started getting more rural and farm-like. He turned into a small, dark alleyway, and faced Hermione.

Then his face started to change.

DM/HG

"Hullo, Blaise. It's not as great as I'd like it to be."

"Hmm.. Well, Weaselbee got a life sentence in Azkaban! What more could you ask for?"

"Well, that's the reason. Herm- Granger was almost crying when w- she got back from the trial."

"Why would that matter to you?"

"It doesn't!" He said defensively. "She just makes a hell of a lot of a noise!"

"Okay, okay!" Blaise held up his hands in a surrendering motion. "Where is she now, anyway?"

"She's on a date with some Nikolas bloke."

"Who's that?"

"The barman in the Leaky Cauldron."

"No, the barman in the Leaky Cauldron is Jared."

"No, we went the other day. His name's Nikolas."

"I've been there quite a few times, Malfoy. I know what I'm talking about."

"Tom's grandson?"

"Yes, his name is Jared."

"Holy. Crap." Draco looked a little worried.

"We should probably go check on her, mate. There's been a few attacks on Muggle-borns by a group that calls itself the Servers of Death. Their leader is said to be a bloke named Steven. Just Steven, no one knows anything else about him, because he's always in disguise."

"What do they do to get at them? Almost no one had prejudices anymore."

"Mental torture. Sometimes they get a Muggle-born's partner to see that they are unfaithful, and tell them to cheat on them. Like a girl's boyfriend will get shown a picture of the same girl making out with another guy. It'll be fake, of course, but it'll induce the effect that they want."

"Maybe that's what happened to Weaselbee. I mean, he suddenly turned into a blood-purist."

"Maybe. But if it's really them, it's imperative that we find those two before Steven comes along. Or if Steven reveals himself. He could be taking on a Nikolas alias."

"Let's go then, thickhead." Draco got up and grabbed his coat in one movement, and slipped it on. He grabbed some Floo powder out of the jar by the door and beckoned for Blaise to follow.

Meanwhile, Hermione was stuck in a dead-end dark alley with a man that she didn't even know too well. And to top it all off, the guy's face was changing.

_He must be a Polyjuice impersonator…_ Hermione thought quickly. She pulled her wand out of her dress, and started backing away towards the exit, pointing it at the man, who had now changed into his true form.

"You can't run, Mudblood." He said in a deep voice. "You're surrounded on all sides. Boys, reveal yourselves."

Suddenly, ten men all around her appeared, out of nowhere. Hermione cursed herself for not realizing the Disillusionment.

The man in front of her had shoulder-length black hair, pale skin, and was wearing a black leather jacket and reflective sunglasses.

"For once, Miss Hermione Granger didn't do her research. If you had, I'm sure you would have realized that the barman at the Leaky Cauldron calls himself Jared and doesn't seem remotely Russian."

"Then who are you?" Hermione asked apprehensively.

"I'm Steven, leader of the Servers of Death."

"Who the hell are they?"

"You don't know who we are?" Steven put a hand over his heart and acted like his pride had taken quite a blow. "Well, we're just going to have to teach you, aren't we? Bring out the tools, boys!"

The men brought a projector and a screen out from behind a trash can, as though they were expecting this.

"These Muggle instruments are quite useful when it comes to these things. Even though I despise them. I stole these babies from a Muggle house. After I killed every one inside, of course." Steven laughed cruelly. He pressed a button on the projector and it played a slideshow of people.

"Colin Creevey, killed in the Forbidden Forest by me, on the day of the Battle of Hogwarts." The slide switched. "Penelope Clearwater, killed by her boyfriend, several days after the Battle. Terry Boot, tortured into insanity a month ago. You're the next one to get a place in my presentation."

"Never! _Stupefy, Impedimenta, Stupefy, Petrificus Totalum, Impedimenta, Stupefy!"_ Hermione threw an onslaught of spells, and caught mostly all of them , leaving only Steven behind. He had managed to block every spell so far.

"Fiesty, eh? Mark my words, Granger, I'll be back." And he Disapparated with a crack.

**A/N: Short, I know, but I wanted to get something up, so here it was. 5 reviews to update! And be sure to check out my new oneshots and a new story I have up (Shameless self-promo) :D Thanks!**

**P.S. The 100th reviewer will get a special shout-out in the next chapter, and a special PM! So all you guests, go get accounts. Like now. :P Review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Yay! We have 100 reviews! Thanks to everyone who helped this story get there. Thanks to potterhead27, SerpentofDarkness, DoodleDooo, Dracos-Mione123, PhoenixEye10000, guest, mickey-x, and Natthechicka for reviewing the last chapter. I also have a question for you guys. Disregarding all my author notes, and looking only at my writing, how old do you think I am? My birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks, and I want to know what you think! I'm probably younger than you think I am. :D Let's say that all my A/N's were fiction. How old would you think I am? Let me know in the reviews. Now, onwards with the story! **

Chapter 18

Draco and Blaise stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron Floo, Blaise coughing, and Draco clearing his throat and brushing ash off his soup jacket.

Blaise stepped over to the bar, where a man with curly red hair was serving up mugs of firewhiskey and butterbeer.

"Hello, Jared. You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Nikolas, would you?" Blaise asked the man amicably.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. We took on a lad of that name a couple of days ago. Shady looking punk. Needed a job. He quit today though, something about an emergency." The man said in a deep, gravelly voice.

"Thanks. See you around."

"Later, Zabini."

"So what now?" This question was directed at Draco, who had been watching his conversation closely, and frowning at all the lies he had been fed over the last two days.

"We find Granger, you bloody idiot. If it really is that gang leader prick, then he's probably on the outskirts of town, maybe in an alley. And I bet he walked, so it'd be close." Draco said thoughtfully.

"Think like the criminal, eh Malfoy?" Blaise half-teased, as he followed Draco out of the small pub onto the streets of Muggle London.

"Think like the criminal." Draco agreed, rather grimly.

The duo had walked for about fifteen minutes, when Blaise threw an arm in front of Draco, effectively blocking his path.

"Wait. I hear something. It sounds like… crying?" Blaise cocked his head to the side, listening closely. "It's coming from inside that alley there."

They both approached the alleyway slowly, the crying getting clearer every second. They rounded the corner to find a crouched figure on the floor, shrouded in darkness.

"Granger…?" Draco murmured, stepping closer. "Is that- AH!"

Hermione had gotten up abruptly and pushed him into the wall, holding her wand to his neck. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and her cheeks showed evidence of fresh tears.

After a second, she blinked and realized whom exactly she was pinning against the wall, and let Draco up.

"Merlin, I'm sorry, Malfoy. I didn't realize it was you. You wouldn't believe what's happened, Nikolas was- Steven is- Ron-" Her rambling was stopped by Draco's finger as he pressed it against her lips.

"Stop. You can tell us all what happened later. Right now, you need a good rest." Draco said softly, and prodded her lightly in the direction of the opening of the alley.

She walked on without a word, silently cursing herself for going on this stupid date, and holding back a complete breakdown. She deserved a breakdown. But not here, not now.

Draco followed close behind, in step with Blaise, and whispered unnoticed to him.

"What should I do?" Draco asked.

"I don't know, maybe you should get Meghana to help you out."

"That's probably a good idea. You going home after?"

"Yeah. I'm going to visit Pansy later this week, do you want to come?" Blaise asked hopefully.

"No! Don't even mention that bitch to me. I'm not visiting her boyfriend or her." Draco said vehemently.

"All right, I thought you say that." Blaise replied wearily. "I'll have to leave you here, mate. Good luck with Granger." They had arrived at the door of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Thanks. I'll need it." With a last nod of acknowledgement, the two split, Blaise continuing down the crowded street, and Draco going into the newly refurbished pub.

He jogged a bit to catch up with Hermione, and stepped into the Floo next to her. She didn't look back once as they climbed the stairs of their building, and immediately after Draco pushed the bolt of the door in place, she collapsed on the sofa, sobbing.

"Granger…." Draco was at a loss to say anything. I mean, what do you say to someone who has been through so much? The day's events were too tiring to even go over. "I have something to show you."

"What?" She asked after sniffling a bit, her voice still sounding congested, as someone who had just cried for ten minutes would sound like. Yes, Draco had stood there and thought about what to say for ten minutes. Wonderful Malfoy as he was.

"Come with me." He opened the door of the flat, and gestured for Hermione to step outside.

She complied, and got up, cleaning her face with a tissue and a little magic. "Hold on for one second, let me grab a couple of things." Draco sprinted back into his "wing", as he called it, of the flat, and came back in five minutes with a jacket on. "Okay, grab your coat, now we can go."

Hermione slipped on her leather coat and walked out, her heels clicking on the marble outside. They walked up five flights of stairs, and Hermione started complaining around three.

"Where are we even going? And why couldn't we have taken the elevator?"

"Because I don't trust those things, and because you needed it!" retorted Draco, rounding the bend of the staircase to reveal another flight.

Soon enough, (but not for Hermione) they reached the rooftop, where the sun was setting. The sunset cast a pinkish glow on the rooftop, and the sky was striped in orange and purple.

Hermione stopped in her tracks and gasped at the beauty of the sight.

"Wow." She breathed, and took a step forward.

"I know. Isn't it beautiful?" Draco, who was behind her, murmured in her ear.

"Yeah… I can't believe I've never come up here before." She spoke softly, taking another step forward.

"Come on over here, and sit down. I've got another surprise." Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out three small objects in his palm. He muttered a spell, and soon they grew into a bottle of pinot noir and two elegant flutes.

"Nice." She laughed at his idea, and took the glass from his hand.

Draco chuckled too, and poured the deep colored drink into her glass, before pouring it into his.

"Cheers." He held up his glass.

"Cheers." She clinked her glass to his and they both took a long drink. Hermione felt the urge to look at him again, away from the sunset and into his eyes. She gave in, and glanced over to find him staring at her intently. "What?"

"Nothing…" Draco looked away quickly, a spot of color rising on his pale cheeks.

"Hey, you can tell me." Hermione said softly.

"Um… Well… It's just that…" He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "It's just that, I've always wanted to do… this."

He leaned forward, so that Hermione and he were nose to nose, and leaned just a tad more, pressing his lips into hers.

Hermione was shocked, so shocked that she pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Draco, it's just that, I'm so confused, and I just- ugh!" She scrambled up, and ran down the stairs, simply lost.

"Ah, god dammit." Draco swore, cursing himself for doing that now. He picked up the glasses, and followed the brunette down the stairs, while the sun shed its final light and sank below the horizon.

**A/N: Well, there was your moment! Five reviews to update, you know the drill! XOXO Don't forget to try my question, I'm curious to see what you think.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I'm soo sorry for the delay… I was caught up in personal stuff, and I got my first flame **** Arian Eripmov, if you're reading this: Next time you want to flame me, can you please at least read the entire story?! I'm sorry if I offended you, but I write based on my personal likes and experiences. 'Kay? Thanks to PhoenixEye10000, Pineapple246, DoodleDooo, SerpentofDarkness, Dracos-Mione123, mickey-x, sweetlyevil2387, SesshyRin3, Guest, potterhead27, DodgerBaller, and persevera for reviewing the previous chapter. On with the story!**

Chapter 19

The next day, Hermione and Draco both found themselves in an extremely awkward situation. Hermione pretty much barricaded herself in her room, while Draco left the house and didn't come back until really late.

This continued for about a week, when Draco decided that enough was enough. He needed some help, though. So of course, he left to go find Meghana. He knocked on the door of her house and stepped back.

Meghana answered the door, looking harried and disheveled, holding a baby.

"What is it, Draco?" she asked wearily.

"And good morning to you too." He replied sarcastically. "I wanted to ask you some questions."

"Oh, all right, come in." She opened the door wider so Draco could step inside, and shut it behind him. "I'll be right with you." She left the front room and disappeared into the back of the house. After about ten minutes, she came back with her hair in a ponytail and a t-shirt and jeans. "What's the matter, Malfoy?"

"It's Hermione. She's been really down lately. You wouldn't believe what happened this past week."

"I probably would, considering you've rejoined with the Chosen One." She said, smiling wanly. "What happened?"

Draco recounted the week's events tiredly, checking them off on his fingers.

"Oh gosh. But she's usually good with this sort of thing. I mean, she hated Ron."

"Yes, I know. But then I did something really stupid."

"Not hard to believe. How did this rate on the Malfoy scale of stupidity?"

"Probably between provoking a hippogriff and Imperuising Madame Rosmerta."

"Oh, Lord."

"Yeah." Draco summarized the balcony scene embarrassedly, blushing as he did.

Meghana facepalmed right after his little monologue.

"My God, Draco, you'd have thought you'd have learned everything there is to know about girls after you dated Pansy for three years!"

"I thought I did know! I just got kind of caught up in the moment!"

"How is she coping with it? You messed her up, Draco. I know you like her, but she just sent her ex-boyfriend to jail for life!"

"The same ex-boyfriend who tried to freaking kill me!"

"I know he tried to kill you, but she's been through so much, Draco! If you want to start a relationship with her, take her on a date!"

"I don't think that's going to work out, as the last date she had the guy was a freaking Death Eater!"

Meghana took a deep breath. They were both shouting by now, and were going to wake up the baby if they weren't careful. "Shut up, Draco, you're going to wake my cousin. And if you do, you can put him right back down again."

"I'd prefer not to, thanks."

"Neither would I. So if you don't mind, I'm going to Hermione's and I'm going to fix her right up, and you're going to take her on a date. Not tonight, not tomorrow, but after you grow a pair and ask her out. I'll plan everything, but you need to get some balls, man."

"Since when were you so quiet, Meghana?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Since I met you and Blaise. Speaking of Blaise. He's taking me to dinner!"

"So you guys are dating again?"

"Yeah. Isn't it great?"

"Sure it is."

"No really, stop being such a party pooper."

"I really think it's great!"

"Sure you do." Meghana glanced at the wall clock above Draco's head. "Hey, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Why?"

"Time to feed the children! Unless you want to help."

"Are they like you?"

"Yeah, my mom says they're even better though!"

"Then I'll pass. Thanks for the offer?"

"You're welcome. Bye!" Meghana poked him out of the door. As soon as the door shut, Draco could hear her yelling, "Lunch time!" He chuckled and walked down the pavement back towards the building.

**A/N: I'm sorry it was really short, I kind of just wanted to update for you guys. I promise it'll be quicker this week, though. I wanted to recommend a YouTube video for you guys, actually two videos. The first one is called "Harry Potter in 99 seconds" and can be found at this link: /y57sYHIDP_Y The second video is "After Ever After: A Disney Parody", found here: /diU70KshcjA They're both songs and by Jon Cozart, who is amazing! Watch them! 5 reviews to update! **

**ANEwrites**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Okay you guys, so here's the status on this story. I'm planning to end this in one more chapter after this (And it will be a long one) and an epilogue. Then, I have another story that I am currently writing… So yeah. I want to hear your input, do you want me to alert you guys of the new story through this one? If so, I'd be happy to. New readers are great, but I like my old ones too! I'm rambling. Thanks to reviewers DoodleDooo, SerpentofDarkness, SesshyRin3, potterhead27, PhoenixEye10000, mickey-x, Archerygirl99, and persevera. One more thing, this chapter is told by a first-person point of view of Meghana. **

Chapter 20

I was almost jumping with joy when I learned that Draco liked Hermione. They'd be so cute together! But, I should have known that he would screw it all up. Now, it's time to take matters into my own hands. A date for them two, that they would be tricked into going to.

If that was the case, I'd have to start planning now!

_This is so exciting, _I thought as I sat the 5 kids at my house down at the table for lunch. _But I'd better go see how Hermione's doing. I mean, she can't go to a date all sad and forlorn. I'll take her dress-shopping for it! She loves shopping with me! Or at least, I hope she does. Oh whatever. Now I'm just talking in my head. I've gone mad haven't I?_

"You haven't gone mad, Meg." My 13-year-old niece Nikhita said to me. "But why do you ask?"

"I meant to say that in my head." I blushed a little. "See? I've gone crazy."

"But you're so fun! Maybe you just need to get out of the house. Meena and I can watch the kids for today." Meena was my 15-year-old cousin.

"But you're only 12!" I said to Nikhita.

"I'm 13, Meghana!"

"Alright, alright. But just today. And don't tell your mother."

"Mkay." She winked at me, and ran off to tell Meena the news. I sighed. It was one thing to get these five off my hands for a day, but another thing to leave them in the hands of those two.

_Oh, what the hell. _I thought wryly, and grabbed my coat. "Nikki, I'm leaving! Call me if you need anything!" In a few minutes, I was ringing Hermione's doorbell.

"Coming!" Her voice shouted from inside. She sounded a little stuffy, like she'd been crying, but it might have just been the door. The door squeaked a little as it opened, and there stood my brunette friend, in all her glory. Her eyes were a little red-rimmed, and she was dressed in a baggy pull-over and tights from our dance days.

A couple years ago, I persuaded Hermione to try Bharatanatyam with me. She quit after a week's worth of classes because she couldn't keep up with it. I lasted about a month. Now we just watch the professional dancers when they come to town, in the theatre.

The way she looked now reminded me of when Blaise and I broke up. I never cried, but it kind of stings when you see your boyfriend kissing another girl in the hallway, even if you weren't very serious about your relationship. We made up for it afterwards, but deep down, a part of me still liked him.

Anyway, in short, Hermione looked like crap.

"Hermione! I'm so sorry, I couldn't come down, the family, you know, and I know you've been through so much, and I wasn't here to help you or anything, and I feel really bad now, but I have a surprise for you, so do you want to come shopping with me this week, and we can buy a pretty dress for you, and you can go to it?" I said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Meghana, they made things called periods for a reason. Use them in your sentences." She laughed a little, and stepped back to let me in.

I glared a little at her, and then said, "Hermione, we must update your look. The post-Taylor Swift-song look is so out of style now."

"Oh, give me a break. My ex-boyfriend was sentenced to life in jail, his wife is out there with a baby who will never have a father, and to top it all off," she paused. "I think Malfoy likes me." She whispered the last part.

"Really? And poor Lavender's child. That girl had it coming to her though. The way she treated you. It was as if we fought a war for nothing, right?"

"Yeah! She's so rude."

"Anyway, I have a surprise for you! You're going to a dinner, but that's all I'm saying. We have to go dress shopping, now!"

"Really? Now?"

"Yes, now! Let's go!"

"But I don't want to…"

"Yes, you do. Go wash your face."

"No…"

"Yes!"

Half an hour later found us at the door, with Hermione in a neat outfit of jeggings, an orange pullover, and blue five-inch wedges.

"Do I have to wear these shoes?"

"Of course. We're going to London to buy your dress."

"Why?"

"Because… I asked Blaise to meet me there." I blushed a little.

Hermione smiled. "Why?"

"We're going to have dinner… So after we buy your dress, can you go home by yourself?"

"Of course, Meghana! I fought the Second Wizarding War for Merlin's sake."

"Jeez, just making sure."

At Madame Toussaint's Dress Emporium, we looked through the cocktail dresses.

"How about this one?" Hermione held up a burgundy dress with spaghetti straps and a 3 inch wide belt.

"Um, no. Did you even look at it? Try on this one. It's perfect." I pulled out a sleeveless white chiffon dress with lace over top of it.

"Well, all right." Hermione took the hanger from me and walked towards the dressing room, staggering a bit in her heels.

"Come and show me when you've changed." I called.

"I will, don't worry!" came the reply.

Five minutes later, she came out looking stunning in the dress.

"It's perfect for that night!" I said, and thought quietly, _Draco won't know what hit him. _

"Well let's take it then!" Hermione said resignedly. "I think it's beautiful too, but I might know if it's better suited for the occasion if you would tell me what the occasion was."

"Nuh-uh-uh! You are not getting the secret out of me." I mimed zipping my lips. I glanced at my watch. "I must leave for dinner. Go home, put that in your closet, and clear the schedule for Thursday night at seven."

"All right."

"And by the way." I leaned a little closer to her. "Try to be a little more open with Malfoy. I know you like him too."

"I don't like him!" she argued childishly.

"Okay. But still. Be nice!"

"Nice?"

"Civil?"

"Really?"

"You two are roommates, for the sake of Merlin, please get along. You've been locking yourself up! You need an outlet. And since I won't be able to be your outlet for right now, you have to use Draco as your outlet. He's not that bad, really." I said.

"For your sake I'll do it." Hermione replied. "I had better get going. Have fun with your date! But not too much fun." She winked.

"Hermione!" This time, I really blushed. "You're embarrassing me."

"Tell me everything later. Bye, Meg!"

"Bye!" I waved, the color still present in my cheeks. I turned around and exited, ready for my "date" with Blaise.

**A/N: Well, there you are. The D/H date will be in the next chapter, but the B/M date won't be in this book. But you will see something of them in the epilogue. I'm definitely not doing the cliché married ending with the family epilogue. Maybe a little more innocent then that. **** 5 reviews to update. Have a nice weekend!**


	21. Author's Note: PLEASE READ!

**A/N: I know that you guys hate when authors do this, but I felt this wasn't something that could be put in a little author's note at the bottom of a chapter. For those of you who don't know about the events that occurred on Monday, there were several bomb blasts in Boston on the day of the Boston Marathon. There have been at least four dead already, I believe. I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to anyone and everyone affected by the events on Monday. I don't know why people think these ways. First the Newtown shooting, then this, so very close to the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting. I have a chapter prepared, but I don't feel comfortable updating until this has settled down a bit. So, you guys can expect an update by Saturday, or Sunday, if something comes up for me. I'm sorry for leading you on, I truly am, but some things just must be said. I love you all, and again, Florida's sympathies go out to those in Boston. **

**Yours, **

**ANEwrites**


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: To all my readers. Please read this. You may want to skip down to the bottom and read the last part, because I combined the last two chapters with this one owing to the fact that they are all so short! One more chapter after this, the epilogue, which I am working on right now. Thanks to reviewers Courtney.1.1, SerpentofDarkness, potterhead27, and ArcheryGirl999. **

Chapter 21 

Thursday night came along a tad sooner than Hermione would have liked, making her wonder what exactly she had gotten herself into. If this was a blind date, she was going to kill Meghana.

Meanwhile, her and Draco had made amends for the past week, and were quite nice friends right now. They had carefully skated right over top of the incident on the rooftop, however, and she was glad that they had. It would have made the moment terrible awkward. She replayed it in her head.

_It was a Monday night, right after Meghana had sent Hermione home, and she collapsed into the sofa, eyes closed. Hermione widened her arms so that they were splayed out all over the cream-colored couch, and was surprised when her fingers hit something warm. _

_Not wanting to open her eyes, she poked the thing to figure out what it was. After about ten seconds of this, a deep voice chuckled. "You know, poking me wont change the fact that I live here, and I have every right to use this couch."_

_Hermione's eyes flew open, and she jumped into a straight sitting position._

"_It's all right, you don't have to be all guest-like in front of me." The blonde said. _

"_Oh, but I do, Malfoy."_

"_Pray tell, why is that?"_

"_Because… because you're you."_

"_What's that supposed to mean?" he asked dryly._

"_You're Draco Malfoy!"_

"_And you're Hermione Granger. Got anything else, Captain Obvious?"_

"_See, that's exactly what I mean!"_

"_Maybe we should just start over. Here, I'll start." Draco straightened his loose necktie and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy. I live in India with my roommate Hermione Granger- who is you- and am friends with Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley."_

_Hermione smiled slightly, and copied him, grasping his hand. "Pleasure. I'm Hermione Granger, brightest witch of my age, and I live in India with my roommate Draco Malfoy- who is you. Maybe we can be friends."_

"_Perhaps." Draco stroked his chin teasingly. "Can you make me a sandwich?"_

"_No! Who do you think I am, Malfoy?"_

"_Yes. We can be friends." Draco laughed and pulled their still-held hands toward him and wrapped his arms around her in a hug._

_Hermione stiffened for a second before reminding herself that this was what she did with Harry, wasn't it? So, she could give Malfoy the courtesy of at least returning his hug, right? So she did. _

_What she didn't know, however, was that Malfoy's thoughts weren't going in the exact same direction as hers._

She hugged me back! This means she likes me… Okay, Meghana's plan should be perfectly flawless now!_ He thought, as he felt her thin arms wrap around his torso. _

Brought back to her own world, and of course, knowing only her end of the call, she stepped into her closet and brought back out the dress she had bought with Meghana and a pair of black stiletto heels. She usually wasn't the type to dress up, but she did, because heaven knows what Meghana had planned and what she would do if she wasn't in the dress.

She stepped out of her apartment, the fact that Draco had left not going past notice. He was usually sprawled on the couch watching a cricket game, which he had gotten into after he moved in. She sometimes was amazed when she compared the prejudiced, selfish boy who had gone to school with her to the caring, television-watching boy in front of her. And the same went for Ronald, only that comparison was really depressing.

Clearing her thoughts, she opened the front door, (which creaked ominously) and stepped down the hallway and into the Floo room self-consciously, as she usually didn't dress up like this.

When she arrived in front of the restaurant, Hermione took a calming breath and reached into her purse. She pulled out her favorite drink, a vanilla flavored Glucerna snack shake, and took a large gulp. Taking a last breath, she stepped inside.

A man with long brown hair was at the reservation desk and looked at her expectantly as she approached him.

"Would you happen to have a reservation for Granger?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, ma'am, follow me." He stepped out from behind the podium and walked towards a small booth in the corner, set for two. "Wait here, please. We will take your order when your guest arrives."

_So it is a date. I wonder who the 'lucky guy' is. _She thought, as she settled back into her seat.

DM/HG

_Well, today's the big day. _Thought Draco as he straightened his necktie in the mirror. He heard the front door creak as it opened, and crack as it shut. _Hermione must have left, so that's my cue! _

He ran out of the building and into an alley, where he apparated over to Meghana's house. He knocked, hoping that she would answer.

"Yes?" she said, as she opened the door.

"Where do I go now?" Draco asked.

"To Sophia's downtown. The reservation is under Granger."

"Why not Malfoy?"

"Because I told her to go there first."

"So I am fashionably late?"

"No, you're just fashionably in the way. I have stuff to do. So if you'll excuse me.." she made to shut the door.

"Wait!" he grabbed the edge of the door. "What if she's mad?"

"She won't be, act like you didn't know it was her. You're pretty good at drama. Acting is the next big thing for you."

"Oh, stop it. I'm nervous enough already."

"A MALFOY? Nervous? I bet your ancestors are rolling in their graves right now."

"Why are you so snappy today? This was _your _idea."

"Um… I'm just really busy, Draco."

"Why are you only opening the door one inch wide?"

"Just go to your date! Good night!" she slammed the door. After a second, she opened it one more time. "And good luck."

Draco took this as a cue to leave, and walked down the street to find an alley to Apparate to the restaurant. He eventually did, and with a subtle pop, he vanished.

When he arrived at Sophia's, he tugged at his tie before gathering all of his Malfoy pride and walking through the door.

"Granger?" he asked the maître d' imperiously.

"Yes, your guest has arrived already. Please follow me." The maître d' stepped out from behind the podium and started walking towards a small booth in the corner of the restaurant.

_All for the better, _Draco thought as he followed her. _We don't need this to be on the front cover of Witch Weekly. Not that they would find us here. _

Then he saw her, looking stunning in a cream colored dress and with a stunned expression on her face. He could see her mouthing, "Malfoy?"

_This is going to be a long night. _

DM/HG

"Draco?" Hermione asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Well… You see…" Draco rubbed the back of his neck. "I arranged this."

"Wha…" Hermione stopped mid-sentence, realizing what this meant, and started laughing uncontrollably. "You…" Laughter. "Couldn't…" More laughter. "Grow some balls…" Uncontrollable laughter. "And ask me out?" She giggled one last time before blushing a little and sitting back.

"Nope. And now that you say it like that, I feel bad for being a Malfoy and not doing that." Draco allowed himself a little chuckle. "Now, let's order shall we?"

The next hour or so passed in small talk and comfortable silence, along with munching and crunching on food. Then Hermione asked:

"Do you like me, Draco?"

"What a stupid question. Why else would you be here?"

"No, like _like_ like me."

"Maybe." He answered, and took another spoon of his pie.

She dropped the subject with a groan, quite aware that she wouldn't get anything else out of the stubborn blonde boy.

The two finally finished their dinner, and decided to go out for some frozen yogurt. Hermione picked the place, then served herself some vanilla with tons of fruits on top.

"Trying to make up for the carbs?" Draco teased, before getting himself some Oreo flavored yogurt with Oreo bits and cheesecake pieces on it.

"Clearly you're not." She replied with a disapproving look at his cup.

"I'm having frozen yogurt like everyone else. Obviously the manager put all these bloody fruits out just for you."

"You are what you eat!" she quoted.

"I don't want to be a fruit! Do you know how bad that would be for my reputation?"

She laughed a little at the joke and scooped some into her mouth, lingering on the spoon.

Draco found himself almost entranced with this simple move, and shaking himself out of it, ate some of his. Soon after, they decided to go home before the sugar rush wore off.

When they did, Hermione switched on the lights quickly, as it was getting rather dark outside. Draco went to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine and two champagne flutes. He poured a decent amount into each glass, and held one out to Hermione.

"To new friendships?" he asked, winking.

Smiling, she took the glass and clinked it against his. "To new friendships. Cheers."

After a few more glasses of wine, the pair found themselves against a wall. Rather, Hermione was on the wall, and Draco was leaning close to her. Just as their lips were about to touch-

CLICK! A power cut, quite normal to the inhabitants of Hyderabad, hit the moment.

Hermione made to duck out, but Draco held her in, said, "Screw it." And kissed her passionately. At first, Hermione was still, and then she deepened the kiss, pushing them against the wall. And in that moment, everything was perfect.

**A/N: Five reviews to update! And please check out my new story "It Started With a Limerick" Link is right…. Here: s/9206097/1/It-Started-with-a-Limerick I have the next chapter all prepared, all I need is a few more reviews **** and also my other story "A Prince and A Princess": s/9130980/1/A-Prince-and-A-Princess which is a Draco/OC story if you like those things **** Thanks for all the support you guys, it really means so much to me. **

**-ANEwrites**


	23. Epilogue

**A/N: ****OMG :') This is the last installment of my 22(?) chapter story! After this, I'm going to be working full-time on It Started With a Limerick, so those of you reading that, don't fret! I tried to stretch this one out, and it's a tad longer than some of my other chapters, but yeah. Thanks so much to my reviewers; sneezingpanda12345, Archerygirl999, AlienfromZaiphon, SesshyRin3, and Dmhg92. Enjoy!**

Epilogue: 15 Years Later

_Ding, dong._

A 13-year-old girl with long black hair bounded down the stairs, with a woman in a tight red dress following her with a hairbrush in her hand.

"Anita! Wait!" the older woman yelled.

Anita gave no heed to the words, and pulled open one of the front French doors.

"Miss Hermione! Draco! Come in!" she squealed, ushering the pair in.

'Miss Hermione' stepped inside, her hair curled perfectly into ringlets, followed by Draco, who looked as Malfoyish as possible on this day.

"Hello, Anita. ¿Cómo estás?" asked Hermione.

"Estoy bien, gracias." The girl answered without a hitch. They were in Spain, after all.

"God, I don't know how this girl picks it up so quick. It took me years to master Spanish!" The older woman behind Anita exclaimed. "And I didn't hear even a hello from you two!"

"Gosh, I'm sorry! Hello, Meghana." Hermione answered, a little sarcastically, with a slight bow in her direction.

"That's better, 'Mione. And you?" she shot, this time directed at Draco.

"Oh, what?" he said, confusedly. "Yes, yes, hello."

"I think that's as good as you're going to get, Meg!" Hermione said.

"Oh, I know. I'd been with him for seven years, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Draco inserted, with a great sigh.

"Damn right." Replied Meghana.

"Meg! Anita!" Hermione said, ever the dramatic one.

"Get over it, 'Mione. I'm sure they're all cursing a bit more than that in school. That too, probably in bloody Spanish. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have to get her ready so we can leave."

"You do that, we'll just hang out here." Hermione replied.

"Thanks." Meghana left the room with Anita in tow, the latter clutching a hair ribbon in her left hand.

"I wonder where Blaise is." Hermione said.

"Probably still at work. This Spanish ministry is up until Merlin knows when doing Merlin knows what!" Draco replied.

"Yes, but Anita's competition is in two hours! And it's all the way in New York!"

"Stop worrying, we'll get there, I promise." Draco lightly kissed her cheek.

In about half-an-hour, Anita and Meghana came back down the stairs, both looking stunning.

Anita was wearing a red sleeveless dress with glitter all over it and a skirt that would flare when she twirled. Meghana had the same red dress on, with some bangles, a necklace, and some light makeup.

Hermione gasped. "Anita! You look just as beautiful as your mother! And Meghana! Lookin' good! What do you think, Draco?"

Draco was frowning. "I think Blaise and I are going to have to beat up some boys in high school."

"Draco!" Hermione slapped his arm playfully.

"Don't stop him, 'Mione. I think he's perfectly on target, for once." A deep voice came from the entryway, making the quartet spin around.

"Daddy!" Anita ran to hug the Italian man in the doorway.

"Hello, darling. You ready to beat everyone?"

"Oh hell yes!"

"That's the spirit! Hey Malfoy, 'Mione." He said to the others.

"Hello, Blaise." Said Hermione frowning a little at Anita's language.

"Hey, Zabini." Draco said.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Meghana asked from behind.

"Of course not. Why would I marry chopped liver?" Blaise responded jokingly, and kissed his wife on the forehead.

"Good evening to you too, Blaise." Meghana frowned mockingly, and then said, "The divorce papers are still in the desk drawer, you know. Then you can marry your chopped liver."

"Why would I want to marry food when I can have a beautiful woman of color instead?"

This went on, while Draco and Hermione stood by, Hermione watching them and smiling amusedly, and Draco tapping his foot in impatience. But in the end, it was neither Draco or Hermione, but Anita who stopped the "fight".

"Mum! Dad! My competition is in one hour, and we have to Floo to New York to meet Miss Abby!"

"I'm sure Miss Abby can wait, honey, you're one of her favorite students!" replied Meghana.

"But Maddie can't get there before me!"

"Oh, stop thinking about Maddie."

"But Maddie-"

"Honey, you'll beat Maddie!"

"She beat me last time!"

"Then you'll just have to try harder. Warm up some more. Everyone deserves a chance to win."

"Okay, mum. But can we please leave?"

"Okay, let me get some Floo powder from the kitchen." Meghana turned around and walked into the kitchen, followed by Blaise.

"Hey, Anita." Hermione came up to the younger girl. "Who's Maddie?"

"Maddie is my biggest competition. It used to be Chloe, but now it's Maddie. I beat her a lot of the time, but she beat me last time, and I really don't want to get beat by her, or Miss Abby is going to be disappointed!" the girl said, all in a rush.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. You'll be fine. You're thirteen. You should know by now that everyone deserves a chance to win."

"Yes, but I'm only in the competitions twice a month, because we live in Spain."

"But you compete here all the time with Miss Alejandra!"

"Yes, but…" she trailed off, not having a good answer for her very well-educated friend.

"Exactly. Now go out there and do your best, and whatever place you make, we'll take you out to Dairy Queen."

"YES! I love that place!"

"Yup! So, let's get your mum and dad, now shall we?"

"No, actually, I think I'll go. What's behind those doors might not be fit for the eyes of sensitive women such as yourselves." Draco interjected, after standing by the whole time watching Hermione talking to Anita.

"Oh, Draco. Just don't be insensitive, all right?"

"Can't promise you anything!"

Hermione groaned, as Draco sauntered up to the double doors to the kitchen.

"Here I go!" he exclaimed, grimacing in anticipation. He flung the doors open with a crash, and then screamed in a high-pitched voice.

His scream was soon joined by two other screams of mortification, and two more of laughter. The whole house was a scream fest! Finally, Draco stopped, and heavy footsteps could be heard stomping up to the doors and slamming the doors in his face.

"Well that was rude." Draco said to the door, mostly for the sake of Hermione and Anita.

"C'mon, let's talk in another room, where ANNOYING BOYS can't hear." Hermione beckoned to Anita to come into a room off to the side.

"Hey, I heard that!" Draco called.

"You were meant to!" Hermione replied in a sing-song voice to him.

Anita giggled, and followed Hermione. She walked in to find Hermione gazing in astonishment at the room. It had looked really small from outside, but inside was a professional ballet rehearsal studio, complete with a viewing balcony with a visible exit onto the second floor.

"This is where I practice for competition." Anita said unnecessarily.

"I can see that." Hermione breathed. "This is really advanced magic! Did your mother do this? Or your father?"

"Dad made it during my first year at Hogwarts. When I got pulled out for my first competition of the season, he showed me."

"I can't imagine how you make it through Hogwarts and do competitive dance at the same time!"

"Oh, I manage. Although, Professor Longbottom sometimes gives me tutoring sessions."

"Longbottom tutors you? You'll fail by fifth year." Draco sauntered in, sneering at the idea of Neville Longbottom tutoring students.

"I only need help in Herbology though. I'm good at other things. Like Potions. It's my favorite subject." Anita answered, a little confused by Draco's attitude towards Neville.

"Oh, Draco, stop." Hermione glared at the blonde. "He's just being a prat, Anita."

"Is he always like this?" Anita asked innocently.

"Yes."

"I can't imagine how you live with him!"

"Anitaaaaaaa! We're supposed to be fellow Slytherins, remember?" Draco whined, frowning at Anita.

"Dracooooooooo! We're supposed to be acting our age, remember?" Anita mimicked, drawing a laugh out of Hermione.

"Learn to respect your elders." Draco said sternly.

"Why aren't you respecting Hermione, then? Isn't she older than you?"

At this point, Hermione was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, finding the thought of Draco Malfoy fighting with a 13 year old girl who was exactly like him hilarious.

"Welll- uh.. Look at the time! It's time for your competition, we can't be late!"

"We'll be back! I won't forget this! Zabinis never forget."

"You're like elephants, then?" came the irate retort from the former Slytherin.

"Well your last name means bad faith! So I wouldn't be talking!"

This continued on the way out of the door, too. Hermione wasn't surprised. This had been like this ever since Anita could speak. She had a very much developed "Malfoy complex".

She went into the kitchen, and grabbed Blaise and Meghana by the arm to pull them out of the house.

"Wait! Hermione, my purse!" Meghana pushed her heels into the floor to stop from going forward.

"Accio Meghana's purse." Said Hermione emotionlessly, and continued to mercilessly pull the couple out of the house. "We're going to be late if you hold off any longer, Meg."

"I know, we've been here how many times?"

"More than I for sure, but you sure as hell don't act like it. Making out in the kitchen? Really?" said Hermione disbelievingly.

"Well…." Blaise looked sheepish, but Meghana didn't, not quite as much, anyway.

"Whatever, let's go!"

**Half an hour later:**

"Now please welcome to the stage Anita Zabini, who will be dancing in the Junior Solo Division, with 'Young Love'!" The MC announced, and then stepped off the stage.

Hermione heard the music start, and then Anita stepped out, in the cute red dress, which had been shortened for the purposes of dance. It was a contemporary routine, and Anita was beautiful.

After about three minutes, the girl finished with a grande jete, and sunk into a stretched out position on the stage. Applause rang throughout the auditorium, and Anita exited the stage, grinning widely.

Hermione, Draco, and Blaise stayed in the audience, while Meghana went to the dressing rooms to congratulate her daughter and see what her dance teacher had to say.

Hermione was on her new cell phone, playing a game she adored called Tiny Tower. It put her in charge of a tower, and she really enjoyed that. Draco teased her endlessly, saying that she just wanted to be in charge.

Anyway, Draco and Blaise were chatting, a few seats down from her. The competition was taking an intermission for the judges to complete their work, and their words were practically drowned out unless they were leaning really close to the other's ear.

"Draco?" Blaise asked. "When are you going to marry her? I mean, she's practically your wife. She lives with you, she cooks for you, the only thing she hasn't done is had your child yet!"

"I know." Draco responded tiredly. "But, I want it to stay this way. Yes, I want kids, and yes, I know that we're getting old, but still."

"Draco. You can't stay this way forever. Soon there will be a million me's and they're all going to be begging you to marry her."

Draco took a breath, before thoughtfully responding, "Soon. When everything is perfect."

**A/N: I know I thanked reviewers from the last chapter above, BUT, a very very special thanks to my loyal readers from day 1, alwaysaclaw11, SerpentofDarkness, potterhead27, PheonixEye10000, ArcheryGirl999, and mickey-x. You guys really made my day. Sorry if I forgot anyone! **

**And please check out my new story "It Started With a Limerick" Link is right…. Here: s/9206097/1/It-Started-with-a-Limerick and also my other story "A Prince and A Princess": s/9130980/1/A-Prince-and-A-Princess which is a Draco/OC story if you like those things **** Thanks for all the support you guys, it really means so much to me. **

**-ANEwrites**


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